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THE PURITAN REPUBLIC 



THE 

PURITAN REPUBLIC 

of 
IN NEW ENGLAND 



By / 
DANIEL WAIT HOWE 



Si Monumentum Requiris, Ci'rcamsplce 



INDIANAPOLIS 

THE BOWEN-MERRILL COMPANY 

Publishers 



44282 

Gopytielit 1899 
Tic Bowcn-Mcitilt Company 

rWC; COPIES REClil V tt). 




•^COWO OO^Y. 



Braunworth, Munn & Barber, 

Printers and Bookbinders, 

16 Nassau Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 






TO THE MEMORY OF 

JOHN HOWE 

OF SUDBURY AND MARLBOROUGH, MASS. 

AND HIS 

ASSOCIATES OF THE PURITAN COMMONWEALTH 

OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 

THIS VOLUME IS 

INSCRIBED 



PREFACE 

No period in the history of this country is more interest- 
ing than that covered by the Puritan commonwealth of Mas- 
sachusetts Bay. About no other, not even the revolution- 
ary period, has so much been written. That interest in it 
does not flag is evidenced by the great number of books and 
magazine articles relating to that period which have been 
published in recent times. Every phase of life in the Puri- 
tan age has received minute investigation and critical dis- 
cussion. Old records and documents have been searched, 
and avast flood of light has been turned upon the religious, 
the political, the economic, the industrial, and the social life 
of the early Puritans. Merely to indicate the bibliography 
relating to that period would require much space. 

The so-called Theocracy of the Massachusetts common- 
wealth has been a fruitful theme, and the discussion of its 
religious intolerance seems to be as earnest, and almost as 
rancorous, today as it was at any former period. 

Up to the year 1856, there had been a great deal written 
by the historians designated by Mr. Fiske as "ancestor- 
worshipers," who found little to condemn in the Puritans 
of the commonwealth period. In that year Mr. Peter Oliver 
published a volume entitled "The Puritan Commonwealth." 
It is written in keen, vigorous and classic language, but no 
attempt is made by the author to conceal his prejudices. His 
vindictive feeling against the early Puritans is so manifest 
on every page as naturally to excite distrust of every state- 

(vii) 



Viii PREFACE. 

ment he makes, and to suggest the answer to all his argu- 
ments. 

In 1886, Mr. Brooks Adams published a volume entitled 
"The Emancipation of Massachusetts." The chief differ- 
ence between Mr. Oliver and Mr Adams is, that the former 
hated all the Puritans alike, while the latter 's animosity is 
directed principally against the ministers, whom he st>'les the 
"priests." 

Many of Mr. Adams's deductions from historical facts 
seem to be as far-fetched as those which he tells us he has 
drawn from Mr. Frank Cushing's "unpublished results" of 
his researches among the Zuni Indians of New Mexico and 
Arizona, which, as Mr. Adams afhrms, "seem to lead to 
well-defined conclusions when applied to New England his- 
tory." The published results of these researches are val- 
uable and interesting, but it is only by the aid of a very vivid 
or eccentric imagination that we can find in them anything^ 
throwing any light upon New England history or upon the 
religion and character of the Puritan ministers. 

Mr. Hallowell has also appeared on the field with a book 
about "The Quaker Invasion of Massachusetts," and shows 
by the vigor with which he espouses their cause that time 
has not abated either the zeal or the resentment of the Quak- 
ers against their ancient Puritan persecutors. Charles Fran- 
cis Adams, in 1893, contributed a volume entitled "Massa- 
chusetts, Its Historians and Its History," relating chiefly 
to what he terms the "theologico-glacial" period, or "ice 
age," in Massachusetts. He, too, takes issue with the ''an- 
cestor-worshipers" — the historians of what he calls the 
"filio-pietistic" school. 

It is against the Theocracy that the most malignant at- 
tacks have been made by modern writers; and when we 
read the maledictions which they hurl against the old Puri- 
tan ministers indiscriminately, we can not avoid thinking" 
that they have improved but little on the pirate of whom the 



PREFACE. IX 

Story is told that, having caught a New England fisherman,\ 
he compelled the poor man, as a grim joke, to jump up and / 
curse Cotton^ather three times. 

Mr. Palfrey, the great historian of New England, has 
written a history of the Massachusetts Puritans that will 
stand as an enduring monument to himself as well as ta 
them; and Dr. Ellis, in "The Puritan Age in Massachu- 
setts" (1888), has said in a dispassionate and candid way 
about all that can be said in behalf of the Puritans against 
the charge of religious intolerance. 

From the standpoint of an Englishman, writing at the 
close of the nineteenth century, we have the recent work of 
Mr. Doyle (published in 1889), "The English Colonies in 
America — The Puritan Colonies." It is manifest that his 
work was very carefully prepared after an exhaustive study of 
all the attainable authorities, and probably no other author, 
English or American, has given the subject of the religious 
and political policy of the Massachusetts Puritan common- 
wealth more careful study, or has discussed it more dispas- 
sionately, or has expressed his conclusions with more judi- 
cial fairness. Still it is doubtful if any American writer 
would agree with all of Mr. Doyle's conclusions. 

There seems to be no end of the books, magazine articles, 
pamphlets and addresses relating to the Theocracy, and the 
diversity of opinion manifested after so great a lapse of 
time goes to prove that, try as we may, we can not wholly 
divest our minds of the influence of inherited ideas, trans- 
mitted from generation to generation. These, even after the 
lapse of more than two centuries, still retain vitality and 
force enough to mold the opinions of men, and to cause 
them to travel apart, in a more orderly way, it is true, but 
still on m.uch the s:ime old lines on which our ancestors sep- 
arated from each other. 

Indeed the very subject seems to breed a contagion of dis- 
sent, so that, in discussing the religious and political policy 



X PREFACE. 

of the Massachusetts Puritan commonwealth, modern com- 
mentators seem to have reached the point at which the early 
Puritans themselves at one period arrived — when no one 
agreed with any other in any opinion whatever. It is not 
probable, therefore, that there will soon be an end of books 
about the Puritan commonwealth, or an end of differences of 
opinion among men who write about them. 

The difficulty of finding out the truth in regard to any 
matter that was the subject of controversy in the early days 
of the commonwealth is forcibly expressed by one of the 
correspondents of Mr. Savage, as appears in a note to his 
edition of Winthrop's History of New England (Vol. i, p. 
59): "I have," says this correspondent, "lost nearly all 
confidence as to the truth of what is related. I see in my 
own times that I can not get at the truth of what passes be- 
fore my own eyes. How, then, can I know what took place 
two hundred years ago, when I have no evidence but that 
which is distorted by the worst passions." 

Where so much has been written, it would be presumption 
to lay claim to great originality in either material or thought. 
What I have aimed to do is to bring together, in a volume 
of moderate size, some of the features in the history of the 
government and people of the Massachusetts Puritan com- 
monwealth, that I thought would be most interesting to the 
people of today, and especially to those who are descend- 
ants of the early Puritans. I have attempted to describe the 
public and the private life of the early Puritans, their cus- 
toms, their characteristics, their struggles to establish and 
maintain themselves against so many odds in "this remote 
corner of the earth." In doing this, I have endeavored to 
portray the early Puritans as they would have wished to be 
portrayed ; as Cromwell wished to be portrayed when he 
said to the painter: "Paint me as I am, warts and all." 

I have essayed the still more difficult task of tracing the 



PREFACE. XI 

evolution of a commonwealth from a colony, of a constitu- 
tion from a charter, of a republic from a corporation. 

No inconsiderable part of the labor in the preparation of 
this volume has been devoted to an attempt to show the de- 
velopment of republican ideas and institutions. This sub- 
ject could not conveniently, in accordance with the plan of 
the volume, be treated separately, but the main purpose of 
ChaptersXII to XVII, inclusive, is to illustrate it. References 
to all portions of the volume which help to an understand- 
ing of it are grouped together in the index, under the title 
"Republic." 

I do not believe in all the beliefs of the Puritan Fathers, 
but I thoroughly believe in them — in their manhood, their 
fortitude, their patriotism, their integrity, their devotion to 
duty, their reverent recognition of God in all their public 
and private affairs — the qualities that have made them pre- 
eminent as the most striking figures in all the history of 
American civilization. 

I can say with the great historian. Palfrey, that "with 
the belief which I entertain, I could not have been admit- 
ted to any church established by the Fathers, if, indeed 
an attempt to propagate my belief would not have made 
me an exile from their society." I can also say with him 
that, while endeavoring to be veracious and just, "I should 
have been neither if I had affected to conceal my venera- 
tion for the founders of New England." 

Some things they did that we can not justify, and for 
which it is difficult to find even a reasonable excuse, but 
they did a great deal more, for which their posterity must 
be forever grateful. 

I am indebted for kindly aid in the preparation of this 
volume to many persons, but to no one more than to Mr. 
Charles R. Williams, for his patient oversight and valuable 
suggestions. DANIEL Wait Howe. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

THE BEGINNING 

The village of Scrooby i 
The Scrooby congregation of Separatists I 
Persecutions of the early Puritans in England I 
Efforts to escape from England 2 
Emigration to Holland 3 
Condition of the emigrants there 3 
Emigration of Leyden congregation to America 4 
The Plymouth colony 4 
Continued persecution of the Puritans in England 5 
Archbishop Laud and his persecution of the Puritans 5 
The Star Chamber and the High Commission 7 
Subserviency of English courts and judges in reign of Charles I 7 
Inhuman punishment of the Puritans 8 
Difficulty of escaping from England 8 
Rev. John White of Scrooby 10 
His life and character 10 
His efforts to establish a colony in America 12 
Motives of him and of his aiders in the enterprise 12 
A grant of land obtained and Endicott goes to America 15 
Charter procured for "the governor and company of the Massachu- 
setts Bay in New England " 16 
Transfer of charter to America 16 
John Winthrop chosen governor 17 
Address issued by colonists prior to their departure from England 17 
Their designs as to future government 18 
Winthrop and company sail from Yarmouth 18 
Colonists gathered from all parts of England I9 
Character of the early colonists 19 
Character of John Winthrop 20 
Character of John Endicott 21 
Situation of colonists upon their arrival in America 24 



(xiii) 



xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

White predecessors of colonists in Massachusetts 25 

Establishing settlements 2$ 

Sufferings during first winter 26 



CHAPTER II 

MAKING A GOVERNMENT 

I 

Founded upon the charter 27 

Question as to right to transfer the charter to America 27 

Why charter was prized by the colonists 28 

Proprietary rights granted by charter 28 

Power granted to elect governor and other officers 29 

Power to make laws, etc. 29 

Power to make war 29 

Limitations upon powers granted 30 

Implied powers 31 

Sovereign control not relinquished 32 

Large jurisdictional territory left undefined 32 

Construction of charter by the colonists 33 

Powers of the governor 34 

Establishing a seat of government 34 

First meeting of court of assistants 34 

Providing for the ministers 34 

Appointing justices 34 

Admission of new freemen 35 

Efforts of assistants to perpetuate their power 35 

None but church members admitted freemen 36 

Freemen resume exercise of right to elect governor, etc. 36 

Restriction of right of suffrage to freemen 36 

Oaths of fidelity and allegiance 36 

Exercise of legislative power 38 

Establishing courts 38 

I'xercise of taxing power 38 

Military measures 38 

O Jier steps taken to establish a government 39 

First matter attended to by General Court 39 

How General Court enforced respect for its authority 39 

Enforcing respect for the ministers 40 

Surveillance over strangers 41 

Banishment for immoral conduct and for religious opinions 41 

Strict laws against strangers 41 

Law as to excommunicated persons 41 



Whitmore's edition of colonial laws 



TABLE OF CONTEXTS. XV 

Progress in establishing a government in first ten years 42 

Inconveniences resulting from absence of a code of laws 43 

Rules for administering justice in the absence of laws 43 

Further evils resulting from absence of a code of laws 44 

Efforts to establish a code of laws 45 

Committee appointed to draft code 45 

Rev, John Cotton's " Moses, His Judicials" 45 

Another committee appointed 46 

Body of Liberties adopted 47 



CHAPTER III 

PURITAN LAWS, LAWYERS AND COUkTS 

Study of their laws essential to understanding history of the Mas- 
sachusetts Puritans 48 
Explanation of delay in adopting code of 48 
Rev. Nathaniel Ward's work in framing Body of Liberties 49 
Why Body of Liberties so called 4g 
Protection of life, liberty and property under 49 
Rights of foreigners 50 
Trial by jury secured 50 
Torture and inhuman punishment forbidden 50 
Slavery and villeinage, provisions as to 50 
Refugees from other countries protected 50 
Crimes punished capitally 50 
Scriptural authority for capital punishment 51 
Transmission of property 51 
Re-enactment of English statute of amendments and jeofails 51 
Monopolies forbidden 51 
Libel and slander 51 
Revisions of 1649, 1660 and 1672 52 



52 



Illegal voting 52 

Revenue laws 53 

Tenure of lands defined 53 

Indian titles recognized 53 

Towns authorized to dispose of their lands 54 
Law of descents 
Divorces 

Husband's authority over wife 55 

Parents and children 55 

Servants 55 



54 
55 



XVI TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Slavery 55 

Various other laws 5^ 

•^ Penalties inflicted for violations of laws 56 

Laws rigidly enforced 58 

Enforced impartially 58 

Extensive scope of legislation 59 

Examples of early laws and punishments 59 

Great number of local officers 60 

How Puritan laws should be judged 61 

Comparison of -Puritan laws with those of England 61 

Comparison with those of other American colonies 62 

Law against witchcraft 62 
\ Body of Liberties contained essential principles of Magna Charta 63 

',, Courts in early period of commonwealth 63 

\ Forms of judicial proceedings 65 

Jurors permitted to consult ministers 65 

Deficiency in records 65 

\ Law books in commonwealth period 66 

Lawyers during that period 66 

Professional lawyers ignored 67 

Legal documents drawn by justices and ministers 68 

No fees allowed lawyers 68 

Prejudice against the lawyers 68 

Lawyers ineligible to seat in General Court 69 

Patrons as substitutes for lawyers 69 

Lechford's attempt to practice law 69 

Lack of learned judges 70 

Judge Samuel Sewall 71 

His education and conscientiousness 71 

His advice to Justice Davenport 72 

His opposition to slavery 72 

His diary and letters 72 

No development of law as a science 74 

Evil results of want of learned lawyers and judges 74 

Absence of influence of lawyers in restraining the Theocracy 75 

Conservative tendency of the legal profession 75 

CHAPTER IV 

THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS 

Plague among the Indians prior to arrival of the colonists 77 

No semblance of organized government among 77 

Their title to land recognized by the colonists 77 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



XVI 1 



Uncontrollable appetite for intoxicating liquor 78 

Efforts to civilize and convert them 78 

The " Praying Indians " 78 

Troubles with the Pequots 79 
Efforts of Sassacus to unite Pequots and Narragansetts against 

the colonists 79 

Precarious situation of the colonists 79 

Defeat and extermination of the Pequots 80 

The alternative presented to the colonists 81 

Indians continue to be hostile 82 

Claims of the Indians 82 

Claims of the colonists 82 

Indians become better prepared for war 83 

Appearance of King Philip as a leader 84 

Injustice of Massachusetts historians to King Philip 84. 

His abilities as a leader 85 

The master spirit of the Indian coalition 86 

His untiring efforts to form such coalition 86 

Beginning of King Philip's war 87 

Its sanguinary character 88 

Attack upon Canonchet and his defeat 90 

Canonchet captured and Philip slain 91 

Effects of the war upon the colony 91 

Effects of the war upon the Indians 92 

Puritan ideas of the red man 93 

CHAPTER V 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE 



Large Families 
dwelling-houses 

Their construction 

How heated and lighted 

Glass and oiled paper in windows 

The kitchen 

Furniture 

Winthrop's reproof of deputy for extravagance in household 
furniture 

Improvement in houses and furniture 
Apparel 

Styles of women's dresses 

Laws against extravagance in dress 
ii — Pur. Rep. 



94 
94 
94 
95 
95 
95 
96 

96 
96 
97 
97 
98 



XVlll TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Rev. Nathaniel Ward's sermon against ungodliness of female 

attire 99 
Debate between Rev. Roger Williams and Rev. John Cotton 

on women's veils loo 

Punishment for wicked apparel loi 

Protests against men wearing long hair 102 

Food and Drink 103 

Thanksgiving dinners 103 

Increase of intemperance and laws to restrain 104 

Tea 104 

Tobacco ; Laws Against Use of 104 

Inns and Ordinaries 105 

As news centers 105 

Governmental supervision of 105 

Celebrated colonial inns 107 

Roads and Travel 108 

Old colonial roads 108 

Modes of travel 108 

Public Days, Holidays, Etc. 109 

Celebration of Christmas and other English holidays prohibited 109 

Fast and Thanksgiving days 109 

Thursday lecture days 109 

Election days no 

Amusements, Games, Etc. no 

Laws against no 

Theatrical entertainments and singing schools no 

Hunting parties, house raisings, etc. ni 

Courtship and Marriage nr 

Opportunities for and restrictions upon " courting " 112 

Laws as to marriage 112 

Marriage etiquette 113 

Judge Sewall's courtships 1x3 

Marriage portions and bridal outfits 120 

John Hull's daughter's marriage portion 120 

Judith Sewall's marriage outfit 121 

Beulah Howe's marriage portion 122 

Curious experiment of General Court to compel husband and 

wife to live together 123 

Suits for breach of promise of marriage 124 

Doctors 124 

Punishment of quacks 124 

Funerals 124 

How conducted 124 

Early burying grounds 125 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XIX 

Monuments and tombstones 126 

Giving presents at funerals 126 
Expenses of funerals of widowof Rev. John Norton and of Rev. 

John Cobbett 127 

Law restraining extravagance at funerals 127 

Rank 127 

Early distinctions 128 

Titles 128 

Family arms 129 



CHAPTER VI 

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL LIFE 

V Laws Against Idleness 130 

Single persons disposed to service 130 

Parents required to put children to work 131 

Tithing-men required to put idlers to work 131 

Agriculture 131 

Fertility of soil 131 

Domestic animals 132 

Agricultural implements 132 

Laws for benefit of farmers 132 

Fishing 133 

Mechanical Trades 133 

Manufactures 133 

Mills 133 

Tanneries 133 

Salt manufactories 133 

Pottery at Salem 133 

Iron works at Lynn 133 

Encouragement of spinning 133 

Weaving at Rowley 134 

Commerce with other Colonies and Countries 134 

Currency 134 

Scarcity of money 134 

Wampum currency 135 

Musket balls made legal tender 135 

Barter currency authorized 135 

Mint established 136 

Pine tree shillings 137 

No banks nor paper currency 137 

No "fiat" money 137 



XX TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Wages and Prices 138 

Regulation of by law 138 

Trial of Robert Keayne for extortion 140 

Rev. John Cotton's rules for trading 142 

Inability to enforce laws regulating wages and prices 143 



CHAPTER VII 

FRONTIER LIFE 

Differences between urban and rural life 145 

Settlement of Watertown 145 

Settlement of Sudbury 146 
Permission of General Court necessary to establish a settlement 146 

Laying off the boundaries 147 

Purchasing the Indian title 147 

Allotment of lands I47 

Military features prominent in frontier life 148 

Organization of the militia 148 

Enforcing attendance on military exercises 148 

Infantry, cavalry and artillery organizations 148 

Forts and garrison houses 149 

Military watches and sentinels 150 

Training fields 150 

Muster days 150 

Indian attack on Marlborough 151 

Apprehension of Indian wars 151 

Public enterprises 152 

Few artisans 152 

Occupations of the settlers 152 

Staple crops 152 

Almost everything made by hand and at home 152 

"An Evening at Home " on the frontier 153 

How monotony of work was relieved 155 
Growth and prosperity of frontier settlements prior to King Philip's 

war 156 

Inventory of a prosperous farmer I57 

Settlers not injured by lack of dissipation and amusement 158 

Recuperation of frontier towns after King Philip's war 158 
Attention of settlers to moral and intellectual needs of community 159 

Settlers continually pushing out the frontier 159 

Settlement of Marietta, Ohio I59 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXI 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE PURITAN SABBATH 

Began on Saturday night i6o 

Similarity to Scotch Saturday night i6o 

No "courting" on Saturday night allowed in commonwealth 163 

Laws enforcing observance of Sabbath 163 

Strict enforcement of these laws 164 

The meeting-house 165 

How heated 165 

Interior arrangement 166 

Seating and dignifying the meeting-house 167 

The minister and the visiting minister 167 

The tithing-man's duty at the church services 168 

Puritan boys in church 168 

How the congregation was summoned 169 

Order of exercises 169 

Instrumental music 170 

Hymn books used 170 

Setting the tune 171 

The noon-house 171 

Taking up the collection 172 

Close of services and dispersing of the congregation 172 



CHAPTER IX 

EDUCATION, BOOKS AND LITERATURE 

Early laws for education of children and apprentices 174 

Only orthodox teachers employed 174 

Beginning of Harvard college 174 

Early book stores 175 

Private libraries 175 

Rev. Cotton Mather's library 175 

John Winthrop's library 176 

Elder Brewster's library 176 

Judge Sewall's books 177 

Cost of books 178 

Governmental supervision over printing 179 

Number and kind of early publications 179 

Winthrop's History of New England 180 



Xxii TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Johnson's Wonder-zvorking Providence l8a 

'Ma.sons History of Pequoi War l8o 

Gookin : Historical Collection, etc, l8o 

Historical Account, etc. l8o- 

History of New England l8l 

Hio"£^inson's New England''s Plantation iSl 

Wood's Ne-M England's Prospect iBl 

Josselyn's Ne-v England Rarities and Txvo Voyages l8l 

Anne Bradstreet's Poems l8l 

Michael Wigglesworth's Poems 183 

Ability to write poetry a necessary accomplishment 183 

The ancient "elegies" 184 
Charles Francis Adams's criticism of the books of the "Theologico- 

Glacial" period 184 
Juvenile literature 186 
The Bay Psalm-book 186 
The New England Primer 186 
Early almanacs 187 
Religious books, etc. 188 
Industry of the Puritan ministers 188 
Rev. Nathaniel Ward's writings 189 
Rev. John Cotton's writings 189 
Rev. John Norton's writings 189 
Comparison of the religious books and law books of the 17th cen- 
tury 191 
Learning of the early New England clergy 192 
Prodigious influence of their books and sermons 192 



CHAPTER X 

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY 

Cardinal ideas of founders of the Massachusetts commonwealth 193 

Character of their religion 193 

The Theocracy not recognized as a distinct body 195 

Composed of a small minority 195 

Learning and industry of the ministers 196 

Their fearless disposition 197 

Their religious views in accord with those of the first settlers 197 

Isolation of colonies tended to bind them closer to the ministers 197 
Great affection existing between ministers and their congregations 197 

First care of colonists to provide for ministers 198 

None but church members admitted freemen 199 

Law as to strangers 200 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXlll 

Laws against Baptists and Quakers 200 

Extension of laws as to blasphemy and heresy 200 

Care to see that churches were orthodox 202 
Modification of Body of Liberties to prevent organization of any but 

orthodox churches 202 

None but orthodox ministers allowed to be called to the churches 204 

Laws prohibiting building of any but orthodox meeting-houses 204 

Closing doors of Baptist meeting-house in Boston 2c \ 

Laws enforcing respect for ministers 204. 

Laws against disturbing church services 204 
Laws enforcing attendance on religious services and observance of 

the Sabbath 205 

Laws for Godly bringing up of the children and servants 205 

Teachers in schools and college required to be orthodox 206 

Attempts of Theocracy to regulate men's secret thoughts 206 
Same men who composed the churches also voters at the town 

meetings 207 

Power of ministers to exclude from church membership 207 

Great influence of the ministers 207 

Their power in General Court and in all civil and domestic affairs 208 

Intimate union between church and state 209 

Tendency to religious tyranny and persecution 209' 

Effect of vesting unlimited power in ecclesiastics 209 

Power of clergy fully recognized by civil authorities 209 

Opposition to advance of the Theocracy 210 

The banishment of the Brownes 210 

Contest of Theocracy with Rev. Roger Williams 211 

His character 2ll 

His religious views 212 

His views of government 212 

His banishment 212 

Subsequent disputation between him and Rev. John Cotton 212 
Modification in later life of Williams of his views as to Quakers, 

religious toleration, etc. 213 
His affectionate regard for Massachusetts and for Winthrop 21 5 
His services to MaFsachusetts in the Indian wars 2' j. 
Shabby treatment of Williams in his old age by the Massachu- 
setts authorities 214 
Antinomian controversy 215 
Ann Hutchinson 215 
Her teachings 215 
Doctrines of her disciples 215 
Rev. John Wheelwright becomes a convert 2l6 



XXIV TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Rev. John Cotton much impressed by her teachings 216 

Sir Henry Vane sides with her 216 

People and ministers divided 217 

Wheelwright tried and convicted of heresy 217 

Remonstrance against proceedings in his case 218 

Contest for governorship between Vane and Winthrop 218 

Rev. John Wilson's "stump speech" 218 

Character of Vane 219 

Banishment of Wheelwright 223 

Trial of Mrs. Hutchinson 223 

Winthrop's conduct upon her trial 223 

Proceedings upon her trial 224 

Her banishment 231 

Her treatment before being sent away 231 

Persecution of remonstrants in favor of Wheelwright 232 
Rev. John Cotton's narrow escape from condemnation as a heretic 233 

He is finally restored to confidence of his brother ministers 233 

Petition of William Vassal and others 234 

Proceedings against them 235 
Persecution of the Baptists; treatment of Clark, Crandall and 

Holmes 235 

Holmes fined and flogged 236 

Presentment of Wm. Witter for being re-baptized 236 

Degradation of Henry Dunster 237 

Further persecution of the Baptists 237 

The Quaker invasion of Massachusetts 237 
Fines, imprisonments and scourgings of no avail to keep them 

away 237 

They persist in returning after banishment 238 

Four of them hanged 238 

Danger of uprising of the people against further hangings 239 

The message from the king 239 

Final triumph of the Quakers 239 



CHAPTER XI 

RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY — Continued 

Characteristics of some of the dissenting sects in the early period 

of the commonwealth 240 

The Familists 240 

Old-time excuses for hanging Quakers 241 

Charter gave no authority to banish them 242 



TABLE OF CONTEXTS. XXV 

Summary of arguments on the question 243 
Characteristics and conduct of early Quakers 243 
Elements of the Theocracy leading to its destruction 245 
Disagreements of its members 245 
Rise of new doctrines and sects 246 
Erroneous opinions discovered at first synod 246 
Religious vagaries during the Antinomian period 248 
Distractions resulting from religious differences 249 
Errors continue to thrive after banishment of Mrs. Hutchinson 250 
The Cambridge synod called, and Cambridge platform promul- 
gated 251 
Other synods called to suppress schisms 251 
Effect on the Theocracy of the expansion of commerce 252 
Effect of the growth of republican ideas 252 
Majority of people opposed to religious persecutions 252 
Charges of Oliver and Adams against the Puritan clergy 253 
Puritan clergy always steadfast for the people under Andros and 

in the revolution 254 

How the clergy should be judged 254 

Puritan ideas as to religious and political toleration 255 

They were not hypocrites 256 

The heroism of the intolerance of the age 257 

Rev. Hugh Peters as a type 257 

Religious persecutions in seventeenth century 258 

Religious intolerance in other American colonies 258 

Samuel Gorton's experience 262 
Progress and causes of religious and political toleration in the 

United States 262 

Persecution of William Lloyd Garrison 264 

Quaker persecution of Catholics in Rhode Island 265 

Quaker persecution of Abolitionists in Indiana 265 



CHAPTER XII 

PLANTING THE SEED OF A REPUBLIC — DEVELOPMENT OF 
THE TOWN SYSTEM AND LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

Idea of local self-government a fixed feature in the United States 269 

Settlement of Oklahoma territory 269 

Origin of local self-government 269 

Origin of New England town governments 270 

The Dorchester plan 273 

The Charlestown plan 273 



XXvi TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Recognition of towns as distinct local municipalities 274 

Chief officers of the towns and their duties 275 

Town meetings 276 

Cardinal idea of the town system 276 

Continuance of the town system in New England 277 
Its importance as a protection against centralization and jobbery 277 

In aid of school system 277 

As a political factor 277 

Its importance in the revolutionary period 278 

Thomas Jefferson's tribute to 280 

Kinds of business transacted at early town meetings 281 



CHAPTER XIII 

HOW THE REPUBLIC GREW — ESCAPE FROM DEMOCRACY 

Clergy favored monarchy 282 
Freemen did not at first contemplate a republic, but opposed to ar- 
bitrary power 283 
Winthrop's objections to Connecticut government 284 
Early usurpations by the assistants 284 
Opposition of people of Watertown to taxation without represen- 
tation 285 
Election of deputies to General Court 285 
Struggle of people to obtain Body of Liberties 286 
Opposition of people to standing council 286 
Opposition to electing a governor for life 287 
Clashing between deputies and assistants 287 
Dispute over a stray pig and its results 288 
Winthrop favors claim of assistants , 289 
Results in establishing right of assistants to sit as a separate legis- 
lative body and to cast a negative vote 289 
Winthrop's trial and speech 290 
Deputies in closer touch with the people 292 
Deputies oppose giving unlimited power to the clergy 293 
Winthrop also opposes claim of clergy 294 
Growth of republic retarded by refusal to extend privileges of 297 
citizenship to non-church members 297 
Commonwealth before its close was essentially a republic 298 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXvii 



CHAPTER XIV 



LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS OF A GREATER REPUBLIC 

THE UNITED COLONIES OF NEW ENGLAND 



301 



Origin of the confederation 

Purposes of its formation 301 
Preliminary negotiations 304 
Shyness of Connecticut 304 
Failure of first attempt to form 304 
Dissensions between Massachusetts and Connecticut 305 
Renewal of negotiations and causes therefor 306 
Articles of confederation 307 
Why Maine and Rhode Island were excluded 307 
Cardinal provisions of the articles 308 
Reasons set forth and name adopted 308 
Powers and duties of commissioners defined 308 
Express prohibition against interference with the local govern- 
ments 309 
Provisions as to war, etc, 30x5 
Legislative powers of commissioners 310 
Provisions as to fugitives from justice and fugitives from service 311 
Idea of local self-government prominent 311 
Articles contained the germ of a greater republic 312 
Towns and population in the confederation 313 
End of the confederation 314 



CHAPTER XV 

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE AND THE REVOCATION 
OF THE CHARTER — GENESIS OF A STILL GREATER RE- 
PUBLIC 

Beginning of idea of an independent government 315 
No such reasons at first as those stated in the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence 315 
What the colonists apprehended 316 
The royal government in Virginia 316 
When the idea of an independent government took definite shape 318 
Winthrop's statement of grounds for setting up 318 
The claims at first based on the charter 318 



XXVlll TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

How the colonists construed the charter 319 

Their reasoning in support of their claims 320 

Their claims became more manifest in Cromwell's time 320 

Why they struggled so haM to maintain their charter 321 

Beginning of troubles between colonists and England 322 
Demand of Privy Council for production of charter, and refusal 

of General Court 322 
Institution and failure of quo zvarranto proceedings in court of 

King's bench 323 
Further demand for return of charter and technicality by which it ' 
was saved from revocation 323 
Attitude of ccwnmonwealth toward Cromwell and the Long Parlia- 
ment 324 
Complaints of Gorton and others 324. 
Claims put forth by colonists as to the nature of their relations to 

England 324 

Why they did not petition for enlarged powers 327 

Winslow sent as agent to England and his instructions 328 

A remonstrance and petition sent to Parliament 328 

Failure of complaints of Gorton and others 329 

Threat of Long Parliament to recall the charter 329 

Petitions to Parliament and Cromwell 330 

Cromwell remains steadfast friend of the commonwealth 331 

Colonists had no idea of having him rule over them 331 

The navigation acts passed in 1651 332 

Prosperity of the commonwealth during Cromwell's time 332 

Accession of Charles II and the ominous tidings from England 337 
The General Court sends more addresses and punishes the apostle 

John Eliot for seditious writings 338 

Organization of Council of Foreign Plantations 339 

Additional navigation acts of 1660 and 1663 339 
Renewal of complaints against the colonists and sending of Norton 

and Bradstreet as agents 340 

Another address and the answer of the king 340 

The king's demands ill received 340 

Norton made a scapegoat 341 

The king sends over commissioners to hear complaints, etc. 342 

The reception of the commissioners 343 

Action of the General Court after their departure 344 

Another address sent to the king and Clarendon's reply 344 

Action of the commissioners in the other colonies 346 
Return of the commissioners and renewal of discussion with the 

General Court 346 
Attempt and failure of commissioners to secure an acknowledg- 
ment of their authority 347 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXIX 

Failure of commissioners to try appeals 349 

Commissioners again depart and are recalled by the king 349 

The General Court overturns courts established by the commission- 
ers in Maine and refuses to send agents to England 350 
Also calls to account those favoring compliance with demands of 

the King 350 

But makes the king a present of ship masts 350 

The grounds then existing of their claim of right to independence 351 
Discussion as to validity of these grounds 352 

Governmental powers exercised by them 354. 

No foundation for them in their charter 355 

Denial of English claims of taxing power 356 

Lull in efforts of English rulers to subdue colonists and the reasons 

for it 356 

War between England and the Dutch 356 

Condition of affairs in England 357 

English rulers not wholly oblivious to affairs in Massachusetts 357 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE AND THE REVOCATION 
OF THE CHARTER — GENESIS OF A STILL GREATER RE- 
PUBLIC — Continued . 

Peace declared between English and Dutch 359 

Passage of additional navigation laws 359 

Renewal of complaints in England against the commonwealth au- 
thorities 359 
Edward Randolph ; his implacable hostility to the commonwealth 359 
Refusal of commonwealth authorities to comply with the king's 

demands 361 

Randolph sent by the king as a special messenger; his reception 

by the governor and General Court 361 

Governor Leverett's statement of right of colonists to govern them- 
selves 362 
Stoughton and Bulkeley sent as agents to England and their in- 
structions 363 
Disposition of claims of Gorges and Mason 363 
Purchase of Maine by commonwealth and refusal to surrender it 

to the king 364 

Refusal of agents to answer any complaints except those of Gorges 

and Mason 364 

General Court sends more addresses but refuses compliance with 

the king's demands 364 



XXX TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Claim of exemption from taxation because not represented in Par- 
liament 365 
Beginning of resistance to arbitrary exercise by England of the 

taxing power 365 

Return of Stoughton and Bulkeley with a letter from the king 

stating his demands 366 

Excuses given by General Court for its failure to send other agents 367 
Opposition to exercise by Randolph of his office of customs col- 
lector 367 
The king writes another letter and sends Randolph with a commis- 
sion as customs collector, etc. 368 
No respect paid to king's letters or Randolph's commission, and 

the king sends another severe letter 368 

Dudley and Richards sent as agents to England 369 

Answers made by them to the king's complaints and demands 369 

Their letters cause dismay 373 

The General Court orders days of fasting and prayer and sends 
more addresses, but refuses compliance with the king's de- 
mands 373 
Alleged attempt to bribe the king 374 
Randolph files articles against the commonwealth of high crimes, 

etc. 374 

^110 warranto proceedings begun in Court of Chancery 375 

Randolph sent to serve the writ with another letter from the king 376 
The arguments of the elders against submission to the king's de- 
mands 376 
The situation in England and Massachusetts 377 
The assistants vote to submit but the deputies refuse 378 
The quo warrajito proceedings pushed to a speedy hearing 379 
The judgment of forfeiture of the charter and the grounds of it 379 
The accession of James II and the issue of the exemplification of 

the judgment 380 

New and strange sights in store for the people of Massachusetts 381 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE ANDROS SEQUEL 

The authorities continue to carry on the commonwealth for a short 

time after revocation of charter 383 

Randolph appears with copy of judgment and commission for 

organization of a provisional government 383 

Last session of General Court 383 

Changes between beginning and end of commonwealth 383 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XXXI 

Growth of Boston 384 

People enjoying comforts and luxuries of wealth 385 

Changes in manners and tastes of people 386 

Relaxation of Puritan authority 387 

Arrival of Gov. Edmund Andros 387 

Powers of governor and council 387 

Andros's fair professions 387 

Tyrannical course of new governor and council 389 

The judges selected by Andros 389 

Change in great seal 390 

Massachusetts helpless 390 

Tyrannical rule of Governor Cranfield of New Hampshire 391 

Andros deposed 391 
The new king of England not favorable to independence of the 

colonists 391 

Arbitrary and tyrannical acts of his successors 391 

The republic continues to grow 392 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE PASSING OF THE PURITANS — LOOKING BACKWARD 
AND ALSO LOOKING FORWARD 

Change in historic style of writers about the Puritans of the com- 
monwealth 393 
Speculation as to what kind of government would have been estab- 
lished without Winthrop and Endicott 394 
The Puritans of the commonwealth believed in morality 394 
They also believed in education 395 
They were intense lovers of liberty 395 
They were economical in public and private expenditures 396 
But were not parsimonious in their expenditures in defense of 

their country 396 
They have impressed their characteristics on every community 

established by them 397 

Settlement of Marietta, Ohio 397 
Charges which the Puritans might bring against the people of this 

age 398 

Changes in character of population of New England 398 

What has become of the descendants of the old Puritans? 400 

Changes in religious character of people 400 
The "emancipation" of Massachusetts still going on at a rapid rate 401 

The future of Massachusetts 401 



NOTE TO CITATIONS 



The references in this volume to Winthrop's " History of New Eng- 
land" are to Savage's edition; those to Hutchinson's " History of New 
England "are to the third edition (1795); those to the Massachusetts 
Colonial Laws are to Whitmore's edition ; those to the "Andros Tracts'- 
are to the three-volume edition published by the Prince Society, under 
the editorial supervision of Mr. Whitmore ; those to Johnson's "Wonder- 
Working Providence," etc., Hubbard's "History of New England," the 
Sewall Papers, the Sewall Letters, and to many other authorities, are 
to the reprints contained in the Massachusetts Historical Collections. 
The reprints of some of the books and documents referred to are con- 
tained in Force's "Historical Tracts," Young's "Chronicles of Massa- 
chusetts," or other volumes usually designated in the citation. 

In order to avoid multiplicity of citations many of the quotations in 
the text, especially those from the Massachusetts Records and those 
from the Massachusetts Colonial Laws, are made without special refer- 
ences to the volumes and pages from which they were obtained; but in 
such cases the source of authority for the particular quotation is gener. 
ally obvious, and the volume and page can readily be found. The fol- 
lowing table includes only the authorities to which special references 
are made. 



iii— Pur. Rep. (xxxiii) 



TABLE OF CITATIONS 



Adams, Brooks. Etnancipatiott of Massachusetts 253 

Adams, Charles Francis. Massachusetts; Its Historians and Its 

History 185, 243 

Adams, John Quincy. Address to Mass. His. Soc. (Mass. His. Coll., 

3dSer., Vol. 9) 211,303 

Alger. Doctrine of Future Life 195 

Amory. Paper, etc. (Mass. His. Soc. Proc.) 389 

Andros Tracts 355, 360, 388, 390 

Atlantic Monthly Magazine 1 01, 160, 246 

Barrows. Dorchester in Colonial Period (i Mem. His. of Boston) 

95. 273 

Barry. History of Fratningham 68,78,157 

Barry. History of Massachusetts 390 

Bay Psalm Book 170, 186 

Blackstone. Commentaries 61, 63 

Bradford. History of Plymouth Plantation i 

Bradstreet (Anne). Poems 181 

Bryce. American Commonwealth 75, 277 

Buckle. History of Civilization in England 6,193 

Burns. Cotter' s Saturday Night 160 

Century Magazine 131 
Chalmers. Annals 301, 314, 331, 364, 366, 368, 369, 374, 375, 381, 384 
Clarke. /// News from New England (Mass. His. Coll., 4th Ser., 

Vol. 2) 237 

Cofifin. Reminiscences 265 

Coke. Commentaries on Littleton 191 

Cooke. History of Virginia 261 

Cooley. Constitutional Limitations 270 

Cotton. Spiritual Milk for American Babes 186 

Danforth Papers (Mass. His. Coll., 2d Sen, Vol. 8) 349 

De Tocqueville. Democracy in Am,erica 75 

Dickens Tale of Two Cities 62 

Dillon, John B. Oddities of Colonial Legislation 63, 259, 262 

Dillon, Thomas. Mu7ticipat Corporations 270 

Doyle. English Colonies in America 213, 218 

Drake. Roxbicry in the Colojiial Period 386 

Earle. Costumes of Colo7iial Times q7 

Earle. Customs atid Fashions in Old New England 97,103 

Earle. Sabbath in Puritan New Englafid 160, 165 
Edes. Charlesto-wn in the Colonial Period (i Mem. His. Boston) 386 

(xxxv) 



XXXVl TABLE OF CITATIONS. 

Edwards. Woj-ks 194 

Eggleston. Husbandry in Colony Times (5 Cent. Mag.) 131 

Eliot. The Christian Commonwealth (Mass. His. Coll., 3d Sen, 

Vol. 9) 338 

Ellis. Puritan Age in Massachusetts 237, 246, 248, 294, 298, 401 

Everett. Orations 10 

Felt Historical Account of Massachusetts Currency 134,138 

First Century of the Republic 259, 263, 384, 400 

Fiske. Beginnings of New England 19, 21, 85, 175, 220, 251, 399, 400 
Force. Historical Tracts 13, 168, 181, 189 

Foote. Rise of Dissenting Faiths (i Mem. His. of Boston) 254 

Goodell. Origin of Towns in Massachusetts (Mass. His. Coll., 2d 

Ser.) 271 

Gookin. Historical Collection of the Indians 180 

Gookin. Historical Accoimt of the Doitigs and Sufferings of the 

Christian Indians, etc. 180 

Gookin. History of New England 181 

Green. Short History of the English People 19 

Griswold. Female Poets of America 182 

Hale. History of the United States 241 

Hallowell. Quaker Invasion of Massachusetts 242 

Harper's Magazine 303 

Hening. Statutes of Virginia 259, 260, 261, 395 

Higginson, Francis. New England's Plantation 96,181 

Higginson, T. W. Puritan Minister {i2 Atlantic Monthly) loi, 160, 246 
Hildreth. History of the United States 259,265 

Hoshour. Altisonant Letters 189, note 

Hotten. Lists of Em,igrants to America 9 

Howard. Local Constitutional History of the Utiited States 

61, 269, 271, 278 
Hubbard. History of New England (Mass. His. Coll., 2d Ser., 

Vols. 7 and 8) loi, 212, 234, 303 

Hudson, Alfred S. History of Sudbury 131, 148, 150, 156 

Hudson, Charles. History of Marlborough 

58, 91, 106, 146, 151, 163, 168, 196,397 
Hume. History of England 222,317,378 

Hunter. Founders of New Plymouth i 

Hunter. Collections, etc. I 

Hurst. Religious Development, etc. (First Century of the Republic) 

259, 263 
Hutchinson. Collection of Papers, etc. 28, 376, 396 

Hutchinson. History of Massachusetts 19, 58, 81, loi, 167, 175, 192, 204, 
206, 223, 228, 233, 235, 238, 244, 249, 252, 282, 288, 293, 296, 299, 304, 
308, 320, 327, 330, 332, 345, 349, 373, 37 1 
Indiana Historical Society Publications 266 

Jefferson. Works 280 



TABLE OF CITATIONS. XXXVll 

Johnson. Wonder- Working Providence, etc. (Mass. His. Coll., 2d 

Ser., Vols. 7 and 8) ig, 134, 180, 333, 334 

Josselyn. New England Rarities 181 

Josselyn. Two Voyages 172, 181,385 

Julian. Ra7tk 0/ Charles Osbom, etc. (Ind. His. Soc. Pub., Vol. 2) 266 
Junius. Letters 254. 

Kent. Commentaries 66, igi 

Lechford. Plain Dealing, or News from New England 

63, 76, 169, 172, 354 
Lewis. History of Lyjin 127 

Lives of Chief Fathers of New England 126 

London Quarterly Magazine 183 

Lossing. New England Confederacy (25 Harper's Mag.) 303 

Macaulay. History of EnglaJtd I 

Magazine of American History 204 

Mason. History of the Pequot War 180 

Massachusetts Colonial Laws 48, 51, 52, 74, 78,98, 99, 103, 106, 109, no, 

112, 132, 133, 136, 140, 149, 150, 160, 163, 164, 174, 199, 200, 201, 202, 

203, 204, 205, 206, 274, 275, 276 
Massachusetts Historical Collections i, 14, 19, 63, 73, 78, 92, loi, 113, 

114, 115, 119, 121, 126, 129, 134, 138, 169, 170, 171, 172, 178, 195, 211, 
212, 234, 235, 284, 303. 333. 334. 338, 349. 376, 379, 399 
Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings 176, 271, 389 

Massachusetts Records 17, 28, 35, 42, 66, 98, 105, 108, 124, 130, 135, 136, 
139, 140, 175, 204, 251, 274, 285, 290, 308, 341 
Mather Magnalia 9, 55, 94, 184, 215, 232, 283, 288 

Memorial History of Boston 17, 70, 95, 97, 134, 179, 196, 239, 254,273,386 
Mill. Representative Government 271 

Morse. Universal Geography 3gg 

Morton, Nathaniel. New Eiigland' s Memorial 184,212 

Morton, Thomas. New English Canaan 112,168 

New England His. Gen. Register loi, 108 

New England Magazine 95, 160, 165 

New Englander Magazine 183 

New England Primer 186 

Norton. Orthodox Evangelist igo 

Oliver. Puritan Coinynonwealth 81, 216, 223, 240, 241 

Palfrey. Address to Mass His. Soc. (Mass. His. Coll., 3d Ser., 

Vol. 9) 92,399 

Palfrey. History of New Englatid 24, 59, 71, 75, 84, 95, 131, 213, 239 

251, 262, 323, 340, 363, 374, 384 
Parker. Origin, etc., of the Towns of New England {Mass. His. 

Soc. Proc, 2d Ser.) 271 

Pomeroy. Constitutional Law 269 

Poore. Charters and Constitutions 28 

Prince. Annals 6, 188 



XXXViii TABLE OF CITATIONS. 

Ramage. Beautiful Thoughts f7V7H Latifi Authors 390 

Revolution in New England Justified (Andros Tracts) 388 

Savage. Notes to Winthrop's History 0/ New Englarid 210, 232 

Scudder. Life in Boston iti the Colotiial Period (i Mem. His. of 

Boston) 70, 97 

Sewall. Letters (Mass. His. Coll., 6th Ser , Vols, i and 2) 71, 72, 73, 119, 

121, 138, 170, 178 
Sewall. Papers (Mass. His. Coll., 5th Sen, Vols. 5, 6 and 7) 73, 1 13, 1 1.1,, 

115, 126, 129, 171, 195 
Shaw. Commonwealth vs. Alger (7 Cushing) 33, 49 

Sheldon. History of Deerfield 79,85,95,153,167 

Smith. Boston a?zd the Neighboring Jurisdictions (i Mem. His. of 

Boston) 134 

Sparks. American Biography 219 

Spofford. American Almanac 188 

Sumner. History of American Currency 134 

Tarbox, New England Poetry of the Seventeenth Century (30 New 

Englander Magazine) 183 

Tyler. History of American Literature 181,189,207 

Upham. Life of Vane (4 Spark's Amer, Biog.) 219 

Walker, Charles. History of Athens Co. {Ohio) 397 

Walker, Francis A. Growth and Distribution of Population (First 

Century of Republic) 400 

Ward. ^/;«//(? C(9/5i(5'/^ro/"^^az£'i7W (Force's Historical Tracts) 189 
Washburn. Judicial History of J\Iassachusetts 66, 67, 68, 70, 389, 390 
Weeden. Economic and Social History of New England 1 76 

Welde. Short Story of the Rise, Reign and Ruin of the Anti- 

nomians 218 

Wells. Progress in Manufacture (First Century of the Republic) 3S4 
White. Planters' Plea (Force's Historical Tracts) 13 

Whitmore. Notes to Andros Tracts 390 

Whitmore. Notes to Colonial Laws of Massachusetts 52, 189, note 

Whittier. The Old Burying Ground 125 

Whittier. The King's Missive 239 

Wigglesworth. Poems 183 

Willard. New England Meeting House (i New England Maga- 
zine) 160, 165 
Wilson. Rise and Fall of the Slave Power 265 
Winsor. Literature of the Colonial Period {\ Mem. His. of Boston) 

179, 181, 106, 207 

Winthrop. History of New England 44, 45, 74, 112, 135, 140, 143, 144, 

180, 208, 210, 218, 231, 232, 233, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 261, 283, 2S4, 

285, 287.. 290, 294, 295, 304, 306, 307, 308, 325, 326, 328, 329 

Wood. Nezv England's Prospect iSi 

Young. Chronicles of Massachusetts 13, 16, 17, iSi ■ 



THE PURITAN REPUBLIC 



THE BEGINNING 

No Virgil would ever begin a poem with "I sing 
of John White of Scrooby." There is nothing poetic 
in the man, the place or the associations. But, in a 
plain prose account of a plain people, it is proper to 
begin with John White of Scrooby. We can not, 
however, fully understand why it was that John 
White and his associates took such an interest in 
planting a colony in America, without some explana- 
tion of the first exodus of Puritans from Scrooby to 
Holland. 

Scrooby was a village on the river Idle in Notting- 
hamshire, England.^ Here in 1607 was a congrega- 
tion of the branch of Puritans called Separatists. They 
were, sa3's Bradford,^ " hunted & persecuted on every 

^ The Rev. Joseph Hunter, in The Founders of Netv Plymouth, de- 
scribes the exact location as follows : " Scrooby will be found in 
the maps about a mile and a half south of Bawtrj, a market and port 
town situated on the boundary line between Nottinghamshire and York- 
shire. It was itself, in the time when Brewster resided there, one of 
the port towns on the great road between London and Bostwick." See 
also the same writer's Collections Conccrnino- the Early History of the 
Fou7iders of Nexu Plymouth, Mass. His. Coll., 4th Ser., Vol. i, p. 52. 

* History of Plymouth Plantation, Mass. His. Coll., 4th Ser., Vol. 3, 
p. 10. 

(0 



2 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

side"; some "were taken & clapt up in prisons, others 
had their houses besett & watcht night and day & 
hardly escaped their hands; and ye most were faine 
to flie & leave their howses & habitations and the 
means of their livelihood." But it was not easy to 
escape. " For, though they could not stay, yet were 
they not suffered to goe, but ye ports & havens werej 
shut against them, so as they were faine to seeke 
secrete means of conveance & to bribe & fee ye mar- 
iners & give exterordinarie rates for their passages." 
In 1607 a ship was hired to transport a company of 
them to Holland, but the master of the ship betrayed 
them to the "catcpoule officers," who took them off 
the ship and "rifled & ransaked them, searching 
them to their shirts for money, yea even ye women 
furder then became modestie and then caried them 
back into ye town & made them a spectackle & wonder 
to ye multitude, which came flocking on all sids to 
behould them." Some were put in prison and others 
were bound over to the next assizes, and so this at- 
tempt to escape ended in failure. 

The next year a Dutch captain agreed to transport 
another company, but after part of the men had got 
on board the officers swooped down upon the fugi- 
tives with a " greate company, both horse & foote, 
with bills & gunes & other weapons ; for ye country 
was raised to take them." The Dutch captain be- 
came panic-stricken, and swore a great oath and put 
off to sea, taking the men already on board and leav- 
ing the rest and the women and children. Of the 
men left on shore some escaped; those who re- 
mained, together with the women and children, fell 



THE BEGINNING. 3 

a prey to the officers. ^' Pitifull it was to see ye 
heavie case of these poore women in this distress ; 
what weeping & crying on every side, some for their 
husbands, that were caried away in ye ship as is be- 
fore related: others not knowing what should become 
of them & their litle ones ; others againe melted in 
teares, seeing their poore litle ones hanging aboute 
them, cr3'ing for feare, and quaking with could." 
The officers did not know what to do with them. It 
would not do to imprison so many women and inno- 
cent children; those whose husbands and fathers had 
gone could not go with them; " and to send them 
home againe was as difficult, for they aledged, as ye 
trueth was, they had no homes to goe to, for the}'' 
had either sould or otherwise disposed of their howses 
& livings." So, after they had been turned over by 
one constable to another, all became glad to get rid 
of them on any terms, " for all were wearied & 
tired with them." 

Finally some of the Scrooby congregation, and 
some of the neighboring congregation of Gainsbor- 
ough, succeeded in getting to Holland. The}^ re- 
mained about one year at Amsterdam and about 
eleven years at Leyden. But, while they enjo3'ed 
in their new home the religious freedom they sought, 
their lot was a hard one. " For, though they saw 
faire & bewtifull cities, flowing with abundance of 
all sorts of welth & riches, yet it was not longe be- 
fore they saw the grime & grisly face of povertic com- 
ing upon them like an armed man, Vvnth whom they 
must bukle & incounter, and from whom they could 
not flye." They were poor and had to work hard, 



4 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

SO hard that all were bowed down under the weight 
of their labors and growing prematurely old ; even 
their children "became decreped in their early youth; 
the vigor of nature being consumed in ye very budd 
as it were." But this was not all. They were un~ 
der a foreign rule; they could not adapt themselves, 
vv^ith their ideas, to the ways and customs of their 
Dutch neighbors ; their children were going off on 
long voyages, and they were being tempted and led 
astray from the faith of their fathers, and were inter- 
marrying with their neighbors. The direful pros- 
pect was presented to Puritans there of losing their 
nationality, their faith, their very language, and of 
being swallowed up and lost sight of among a for- 
eign people. 

So the Leyden congregation, the one which com- 
prised those who had originally come from Scrooby, 
and of which John Robinson and William Brewster 
were members, began to cast about for some new 
place of settlement. They finally concluded to go to 
America, and this was the beginning of the move- 
ment which culminated in the settlement of the col- 
ony at Plymouth in 1620. 

The Plymouth colony was the first in America 
which had been prompted by a desire for greater re- 
ligious freedom. But it did not greatly flourish. 
Eleven years after it was founded it had only about 
500 population, and it never became an important 
factor in American colonial history. It did not form 
even a nucleus about which to gather the great Puri- 
tan immigration, which, a few years later, sought 



THE BEGIXNING. 5 

refuge in America, and which founded the Massa- 
chusetts commonwealth. 

It is probable that no such immigration would have 
come, and that the Puritan commonwealth never 
would have been founded,^ if the persecutions of the 
Puritans in England had ceased. But they did not 
cease. James I died in 1625, and was succeeded by 
Charles I. The advent of the new monarch and his 
despotic course intensified the great struggle of the 
English people, begun in the reign of his predeces- 
sor, to establish constitutional limits which would pre- 
serve the liberty of the people against the aggressions 
of arbitrary power. With Charles I came Laud. 
He had given proof of his persecuting spirit before he 
became archbishop. While Bishop of London he 
had begun the work of purging his diocese of Puri- 
tans. An example of his hatred of the Puritan min- 
isters is seen in his treatment of the Rev. Thomas 
Shepard, a young Puritan minister who was com- 
pelled to flee from England and who afterwards be- 
came eminent in America. When summoned before 
Laud Shepard found him in a towering rage. Laud 
told him that he had been " more cheated and equiv- 
ocated with by some of m}- malignant faction than ever 
was man by Jesuit. At the speaking of which words he 
looked as though blood would have gushed out of his 
face, and did shake as if he had been haunted w^ith an 
ague fit, to my apprehension, by reason of his extreme 
malice and secret venom." He railed at Shepard, 
calling him a " prating cox-comb," and accusing him 
of belonging to " a company of seditious, factious, bed- 
lams," and forbade him to exercise any ministerial 



6 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

functions under the threat that if he did ^'I will be 
upon your back, and follow you wherever you go, in 
any part of the kingdom." The conclusion of the 
interview, as given by Shepard, was as follows: ^' I 
prayed him to suffer me to catechise on the Sabbath 
days in the afternoon ; he replied, ' Spare 3^our breath, 
I will have no such fellows prate in my diocese ; get 
you gone, and now make your complaints to whom 
3^ou will.' So away I went, and blessed be God that 
I may go to him."^ In 1633 Laud was made Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury and became one of the chief 
favorites of the king. His subsequent career has 
earned for him the distinction of being one of the 
most infamous prelates in the history of England. 
*'His memory," says an historian, of his own coun- 
try,^ "is still loathed as the meanest, the most cruel, 
and the most narrow-minded man who ever sat on 
the episcopal bench." Macaulay^ describes him as 
follows : 

" Of all the prelates of the Anglican Church, Laud had 
departed farthest from the principles of the Reformation, 
and had drawn nearest to Rome. His theology was more 
remote than even that of the Dutch Arminians from the 
theology of the Calvinists. His passion for ceremonies, 
his reverence for holidays, vigils and sacred places, his ill- 
concealed dislike of the marriage of ecclesiastics, the ardent 
and not altogether disinterested zeal with which he asserted 
the claims of the clergy to the reverence of the laity, would 
have made him an object of aversion to the Puritans, even 
if he had used only legal and gentle means for the attain- 

* Prince's ^««a/j, p. 33S. 

2 Buckle, His. of Civ. in Eng., Vol. i, p. 251. 

^ His, of Eng.,Yo\. i, Chap. i. 



THE BEGINNING. 7 

ment of his ends. But his understanding was narrow, and 
his commerce with the world had been small. He was by 
nature rash, irritable, quick to feel for his own dignity, slow 
to sympathize with the sufferings of others, and prone to 
the error, common in superstitious men, of mistaking his 
own peevish and malignant moods for emotions of pious 
zeal. Under his direction every corner of the realm was 
subjected to a constant and minute inspection. Every little 
congregation of separatists was tracked out and broken up. 
Even the devotions of private families could not escape the 
vigilance of his spies. Such fear did his rigor inspire that 
the deadly hatred of the church, which festered in innum- 
erable bosoms, was generally disguised under an outward 
show of conformity. On the very eve of troubles fatal to 
himself and to his order, the bishops of several extensive 
dioceses were able to report to him that not a single dis- 
senter was to be found within their jurisdiction." 

The Star Chamber and the High Commission, tri- 
bunals unknovi^n to the old English constitution, de- 
fied all lav/, and their usurpations, exactions and 
excesses have no parallel in English hlstor}^ 

The people found no relief in the common law 
courts. These would have been pov/erless, even if 
the judges had been Inclined to grant relief. But 
many of them were obsequious and servile syco- 
phants, anxious to hold their places and eager to de- 
base the courts and themselves in order to please 
those in authority. It Is onl}- by comparing the 
judges of the reign of Charles I with those In the 
reign of James II, that anything can be found to the 
advantage of the former, and all that can be said In 
their favor Is, that they did not quite reach the low- 
water mark of judicial depravity- to which their sue- 



8 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

cessors sank in the reign of James II. By compari- 
son with the infamous Jeffreys and Scroggs the worst 
of their predecessors seem to be somewhat respectable. 

The civil and the ecclesiastical authorities vied with 
each other in their contemptuous disregard of the 
liberties of the people and in prostituting the proc- 
esses of the law to oppress and plunder them. For 
writing or speaking against the usurpations of either 
civil or ecclesiastical officers, the most inhuman pun- 
ishments were inflicted. For such offenses enormous 
fines, imprisonment, standing in the pillory, whip- 
ping, branding, cropping the ears, and slitting the 
nose were the common punishments. 

The redeeming feature in this dark picture is, that 
all these persecutions were unavailing to quench in 
the English people the love of liberty or to subdue 
English manhood. 

Under such galling tyranny we may well suppose 
that many of the Puritans in England began to think 
about imitating the example of their countrymen, 
who had sought refuge in other lands. The experi- 
ence of the Puritans in Holland had not been such 
as to induce those left in England to follow their ex- 
ample and seek homes among the Dutch. And so 
they began to turn their eyes toward America. But 
getting away from England was no easy matter. 
Those who left were required, before going, to ob- 
tain permission; and to ask permission was to excite 
suspicion and to run the risk of the vengeance of 
Laud, the Star Chamber, and the High Commission. 
Besides this, none could obtain permission without 



THE BEGINNING. 9 

taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy and 
also an oath that they were no subsidy men. 

In reference to the absence of any record of many 
of the emigrants who left England and came to 
America during this period, Mr. Hotten^ gives us an 
explanation, which shows how difficult it was for 
Puritans to escape from England. He says : 

"Further it should be borne in mind that only the names 
of those were taken who legally left the shores of England. 
At page 142, for example, and elsewhere throughout the 
book, we find that the passengers were examined by the 
minister touching their conformity to the church discipline 
of England, and that they had taken the oaths of allegiance 
and supremacy; elsewhere (p. 106, etc.) we find it certi- 
fied that they were no subsidy men, that is, men liable to 
the payment of a subsidy to the crown. Among the thou- 
sands who emigrated to New England it can not be doubted 
but that a very large number left to avoid payment of the 
hateful subsidy, and that they would not take the oaths of 
allegiance and supremacy. Those, therefore, must have 
left secretly, and of such no record would exist." 

Cotton Mather tells us" : "There were many 
countermands given to the passage of people that 
were now steering of this western course; and there 
was a sort of uproar made amongst no small part of 
the nation, that these people should not be let go.'''* 

Cromwell, himself, it is said, once attempte<:l to 
emigrate, but was unable to elude the vigilance of 
the authorities, and so he remained, to become the 
central figure of English history. 

^Lisfs of Emigrants to America, 1600-1700, Introduction, p. xxxi. 
^ Magnalia, Vcl. i, p. 79. 



lO THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

Such was the situation when the Rev. John "White, 
of Scroob}^, began his efforts to estabHsh a colony in 
America. We do not know very much about him. 
He was a Puritan clergyman, but not a nonconform- 
ist. It does not appear that he v/as a profound phi- 
losopher or a far-seeing statesman. We have no 
reason to believe that he himself had the slis^htest 
conception that the movement he was starting was 
destined to so marvelous a development; that the lit- 
tle stream so feeble at its rising was to gather volume 
and force till it became one of the Vv^orld's historic 
currents, marking the beginning of a new nation on 
a new continent. 

Edward Everett, in his oration on Dorchester,* 
gives the following account of iNlr. AVhite : 

"He was a Puritan in principle and feeling, but not deem- 
ing the ceremonies of vital importance, he adhered to the 
church. But in periods of great excitement, moderation is 
an offense in the eyes of violent men. The cavalry of Prince 
Rupert sacked his house and carried off his library. This 
drove him to London. He was a man of most excellently 
tempered qualities, 'grave, yet without moroseness, who 
would willingly contribute his shot of facetiousness on any 
just occasion.' He was an indefatigable preacher, and 
* had an excellent faculty in the clear and solid Interpreta- 
tion of the Scriptures.' His executive talent was not less 
remarkable, and he administered the secular affairs of his 
church so as greatly to promote the temporal prosperity of 
the city. Of two things not easily controlled he had, ac- 
cording to Fuller, absolute command, ' his own passions and 
the purses of his parishioners, whom he could wind up to 
what point he pleased on Important occasions.' A gener- 

' Orations^ etc., Vol. 3, pp. 307-309. 



THE BEGINNING. II 

erous use of his own means was the secret of his command 
of the means of others. ' He had a patriarchal influence 
both in Old and New England.' I find no proof that this 
influence ever ceased over the hardy young men who, by 
his encouragement, had settled this American Dorchester; 
but at home his old age was embittered by factions and the 
' new opinions which crept into his flock.' A generation 
arose which slighted the crown of his old age ; and of this 
he was ' sadly and silently sensible ' ; sadly, as was natural 
in a man who had reaped ingratitude where he sowed bene- 
fits; silently, as became the self-respect of a proud, good 
conscience. He was one of the most learned and influen- 
tial of that famous assembly of divines at Westminster, 
whose catechisms, after two centuries, remain accredited 
manuals of Christian belief to millions on millions in the old 
world and the new. The biographer of the ' Worthies of 
England,' after sketching his admirable character of our 
ever-memorable founder, expresses the hope that Solomon's 
observation of the poor wise man who saved the little city, 
'yet no m^an remembered him,' will not be verified of ' Dor- 
chester in England, in relation to this their deceased pastor.' 
He lies buried, without a stone to mark the spot, in the 
porch of St. Peter's church; and if the good old patriarch 
should be forgotten in the Dorchester of Old England, let 
it be some atonement to his memory that here in New 
England, after a lapse of two centuries and a quarter, he is 
still held in pious and grateful remembrance. 

" Mr. White's connection with New England preceded 
by several years the settlement of our ancient town. He was 
the chief promoter of the attempt to establish a colony at 
Cape Ann under Conant; and after its failure there, his en- 
couragement and aid caused the transfer of what remained 
of it to Salem, where it became the germ of a permanent 
settlement. It was Mr. White who brought the adventurers 
of the west of England into connection with the men of in- 



12 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

fluence In London, in Lincolnshire, and the other eastern 
counties, and formed with them the ever-memorable com- 
pany, which, under a charter from Charles I, ingrafted En- 
dicott's settlement at Salem upon the languishing enterprise 
of the single-hearted, persevering, and ill-rewarded Conant; 
and finally fitted out that noble expedition in 1630, under 
the great and good Winthrop, which put the finishing hand 
to the work, and consolidated the foundation of Massachu- 
setts. In all the labors and counsels tending to this end, 
John White, of Dorchester, appears to have been the person 
of greatest activity and influence ; and when all was pre- 
pared for the expedition, and the Arbella and her chosen 
company were ready to set sail, the ' Humble Request,' as 
it is called, addressed to the churches of England, setting 
forth, in language which can scarcely yet be read without 
tears, the motives and feelings which influenced the pious 
adventurers, is ascribed to his pen." 

It occurred to Mr. White to establish a settlement 
in America, whereby the planters already there and 
the sailors who went there, some of whom were his 
parishioners, should not want for orthodox religious 
instruction. To carry out this scheme a company 
was formed and a small colony was sent to America; 
but discouragement and failure followed, and in a few 
years the settlement went to pieces. Some of the colo- 
nists, however, who had settled at what is now Salem, 
said that they would remain if they could get help 
from England, and, hearing this, Mr. White promised 
that, if they would remain, he would send them needed 
supplies and "provide a patent for them, "and he im- 
inediately went about the business with renewed zeal. 

We can not, of course, tell just what ideas were in 
the minds of the men who now lent their aid to the 



THE BEGINNING. 1 3 

enterprise. The account which the pious Mr. White 
has given us does not throw a great deal of Hght upon 
the subject. Perhaps he had no other motives than 
those expressed b}' him in the "Planters' Plea." In this 
he emphatically asserts that "the suspicious and 
scandalous reports raysed upon these gentlemen and 
their friends (as if, under color of planting a colony, 
the}^ intended to rayse and erect a seminary of faction 
and separation) are nothing else but the fruits of 
jealousie of some distempered minde, or, which is 
worse, perhaps savour of a desperate malicious plot of 
men ill-affected to religion, endeavoring, by casting 
the undertakers into the jealousie of State, to shut 
them out of those advantages which otherwise they 
doe and might expect from the Countenance of Author- 
itie." Thomas Dudley, in his letter of March 12, 
1630, to the Countess of Lincoln,^ gives this account 
of the origin of the founding of the Massachusetts 
colony: 

"Touching the plantation which wee here have begun, it 
fell out thus. About the year 1627 some friends, beeing to- 
geather in Lincolnsheire, fell into discourse about New Eng- 
land and the plantingc of the Gospcll there; and after some 
deliberation we imparted our reasons, by letters & mes- 
sages, to some in London & the west country, where it 
was likewise deliberately thought upon, and at length with 
often negotiation soe ripened that in the year 1628 [1629] 
wee procured a patent, etc." 

In the same letter he also denounces as " false and 
scandalous" the reports that the colonists were " ill- 

* Force's His. Tracts, Vol. 2; Young's Chronicles of Massachusetts^ 
P- 303- 



14 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

affected to our state at home." To emphasize this 
he adds : 

' 'And for our further cleareinge, I truely afifirme, that I know 
noe one person who came over with us the last yeare to bee 
altered in his judgment and affection, eytlier in ecclesiasticals 
or civill respects, since our com.einge hether. But wee doe 
continue to pray dailey for our sovereaign lord the Kinge, his 
Queene, the Prince, the royal blood, the counsaile and whole 
state, as dutye binds us to doe, and reason persuades others 
to believe. For how ungodly and unthankfull should wee bee, 
if wee should not thus doe, who come hether by vertue of his 
Majesty's letters-patent, and under his gratious protection, 
under which shelter wee hope to live safely and from whose 
kingdome and subjects wee now have received and hereafter 
expect reliefe." 

The most charitable explanation of this letter is that 
it was written with many mental reservations and 
under the conviction that it was not prudent to dis- 
close fully all the motives of the colonists, as this 
would be certain to invite the persecution here which 
they had left England to escape. That many of the 
emigrants were in haste to get away, and that they 
deemed it the wiser course not to avow all the ob- 
jects they had in view in leaving, is apparent from 
Johnson's "Wonder-working Providence."^ "And 
now I could wish," he says, " our brethren in England 
would not be angry with us for making such haste. 
Brethren you know how the case stood with our 
Ministers, as it was with Gidion, v/ho could thresh 
out no Corne, but he must doe it secretly to hide it 
from the Midianites, who spread the land like Grass- 

^Mass. His. Coll., 2 Ser., Vol. 4, p. 23. 



THE BEGINNING. 1 5 

hoppers; no more could they thresh and clean up 
any Wheate for the Lord's Garner, but the Prelates 
would presently be upon their backs and plow long 
furrowes there." 

At any rate ' ' the business came to agitation afresh 
in London," and soon other men appeared upon the 
scene, some of whom are historic nsrures, who bep-an 
to interest themselves in the furtherance of Mr. 
White's scheme, and who, it is pretty certain, had 
other aims in view than the conversion of the savas^es 
in Am.erica, or that the planters there and the sailors 
who went there micjht not want for orthodox relisrious 
instruction. 

In casting about to find persons v/illing to go, ''it 
fell out that, amongst others, they lighted at last on 
Master Endicott, a man well knov/n to divers persons 
of good note." K grant of some kind was procured 
on March 19, 1628, from the Council for New England 
which had a prior right to the land whereon it was 
desired to plant the colon}', and Endicott, with a few 
others, v/ent over, arriving in America in September 
foUov/ing. 

Precisely by v/hat means the grant was obtained 
from the Council we do not know. No separate record 
of it is extant, and we know what it was only from 
the recitals in the charter granted by King Charles I, 
and that the date of it v/as March 19, 1628. The 
grant was made to six persons, including Endicott. 

But the Council had met with continued disaster 
in its attempt to carry out the purpose of its organiza- 
tion and was on its last legs. Soine better author- 
ity was desired than the grant already obtained, which 



1 6 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

could not transfer any governmental powers. To 
obtain these it was necessary to get a charter. Coke 
and others opposed the one first proposed, as grant- 
ing a monopoly. It is said that the charter granted 
cost two thousand pounds, besides the use of all the 
influence that the most potent of the Puritans in Eng- 
land could bring to bear. Finally an acceptable 
charter was prepared, and on March 4, 1629, it re- 
ceived the royal signature. The charter was granted 
to twenty-six persons, named therein, incorporating 
them into a company under the name of "The Gov- 
ernor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in 
New England." In anticipation of getting it, Endi- 
cott and a party of emigrants had already gone to 
prepare the way and had established a settlement at 
Salem. 

The next question was, whether the charter could 
legally be transferred to America. On August 26, 
1629, Richard Saltonstall, Thomas Dudley, John 
Winthrop and other men of fortune and distinction 
had bound themselves by an agreement made at Cam- 
bridge that if before the last of the following Sep- 
tember an order of court could be procured legally 
transferring "the whole government, together with 
the patent for the said Plantation," they and their 
families would "embark for the said Plantation by 
the first of March next, at such port or ports of this 
land as shall be agreed upon by the Company, to the 
End to pass the Seas (under God's protection) to in- 
habit and continue in New England."^ But no 
order of court was obtained. What legal advice 

^ Young's Chronicles of Mass., p. 279. 



THE BEGINNING. 1 7 

was secured is not known, but it is certain that 
the parties interested were not then entirely clear 
in their own minds about their right to transfer the 
government and charter to New England, for, at one 
of their meetings, it was resolved "to carry this busi- 
ness secretly that the same be not divulged."^ After 
further discussion general consent was given " by 
erection of hands." 

It was next determined that the government of 
persons should be held in New England, that it 
should be continued there by Capt. Endicott, and 
that the government of trade and merchandise should 
be in London.^ 

An inventory was made of things ' ' to provide to 
send for New England," including " ministers" and 
*' patent under scale. "^ Endicott had gone on June 
20, 1628. On March 25, 1629, the second expedi- 
tion set sail from England, conveying 300 passengers 
and two ministers.* Before going John Winthrop 
was chosen governor of the company with a deputy 
governor and eighteen assistants. 

An address,^ published by the emigrants on the 
eve of their departure, in which they referred to the 
Church of England as '* our dear mother," has been 
sometimes quoted as proof of hypocrisy on their part, 
and of their intention to conceal their design to 
secede from it on their arrival in America, but it is 
susceptible of a different construction. 

1 Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 49. 

* Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 56. 
'Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 24. 

^ Mem. Hist. Boston, Vol. i, p. 98. 

* The Humble Request., Young's Chronicles, 293, 

Pur. Rep. — 2 



1 8 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

The religious views of the emigrants must have 
been well known, and it would have been useless to 
attempt to conceal them. It is far more reasonable 
to infer that, with all its faults, the church of their 
ancestors was still dear to them, and that, in the sad 
moments of parting from home and kindred, the 
harsh recollections of former persecutions gave wa}^ 
to tender memories. The address has even given 
rise to some question as to whether the colonists v/ere 
of the Church of England or not. But, as stated by 
Hutchinson, " however problematical it may be what 
they were while they remained in England, they left 
no room for doubt after they arrived in America." 

It has been conjectured also that the emigrants, be- 
fore leaving England, had formed the design of set- 
ting up in America a government of their own, and, 
on this assumption, some have accused them of 
craftily concealing their design, while others have 
supposed them to have been very far-seeing. Both 
conclusions are probably erroneous. Undoubtedly 
the emigrants anticipated that it would be necessary 
for them to have some kind of civil government in 
their future home. To enable them to establish such 
a government was one of the objects for which the 
charter was asked and granted. But there is no evi- 
dence that they themselves contemplated in the be- 
ginning such a government as was afterwards de- 
veloped. That was the outgrowth of circumstances 
and opportunities not then foreseen by any one. 

Winthrop sailed from Yarmouth in the Arbella on 
April 8, 1630, and reached Salem on June 12. Some 
of the company's emigrants had already arrived and 



THE BEGINNING. 1 9 

others came later, so that, before winter, over one 
thousand in all had come.^ It is estimated by Mr. 
Fiske that two-thirds of these were from the eastern 
portion of England.^ Some came, as appears froin 
the "Planters' Plea," from the west of England. John- 
son^ sa3'S that "the Wonder-working Providence of 
Sions Savour appears much in gathering together the 
stones to build up the walls of Jerusalem (that his 
Sion maybe surrounded with Bulwarkes and Towers) 
and that Vv'ith a whispering word in the eares of his 
servants he crosses the Angles of England from Corne- 
wall to Kent, from Dover to Barwick, not leaving 
out Scotland and ¥/ales." Of those that came, not 
more than twenty were members of the compan3\ 

What an English historian^ says of the character of 
the immigrants who had exchanged the pleasant fields 
and homes of England for these wild shores will surely 
not be regarded as "ancestor- worship." "They 
were not," he sa3'^s, "broken men, adventurers, 
bankrupts, criminals, or simpl}^ poor men and arti- 
sans. They were, in great part, m.en of the profes- 
sional and middle classes ; some of them men of large 
landed estates ; some zealous clerg3^men, * •5'- * 
some shrewd London law3'ers, or 3'oung scholars 
from Oxford * * * driven forth from their father- 
land not by earthly want, or by the greed of gold, or 
b3' the lust of adventure, but b3' the fear of God and 
the zeal for a godty worship." 

Among those thus gathered in the New World 

* Hutchinson says " above 1,500 passengers." 
* Bcgin7iin!:^s of Nexv England, p. 63. 

' Wonder-'vorhing Providence: INIass. His. Coll., 2 Scr., Vol. 4, p. 23. 

* Green, Short History of the English People, p. 49S. 



20 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

were men noted in its history. There were women 
also worthy to be remembered. Some of them 
*'came from a paradise of plenty and pleasure" in 
Eno-land " into a wilderness of wants." There were 
others too who had been accustomed to the comforts 
and luxuries of English life, and who were worthy to 
be the wives and mothers of the men whose names | 
have been so deeply graven in history.. 

But in this historic group there are two figures 
standing out in bold relief. One is Winthrop, wise, 
conscientious, often honored by his fellow-citizens, al- 
ways discharging his duties with dignity and scrupu- 
lous fidelity. He had been trained in England as a 
lawyer ; when he left there he was forty-two years 
old. Through all its troubles, while he was at the 
helm, he guided the ship of state with consummate 
skill. There was in his character not the least trace 
of dissimulation or demagogy. Though never ag- 
gressive, he was resolute in maintaining his convic- 
tions of right. When the freemen clamored to strip 
the assistants of their right to cast a negative vote, he 
stood out against them, without regard to the effect 
upon his own popularity with them. When the 
clergy sought to shake off responsibility to the civil 
magistrates, he was as firm and unyielding in resist-, 
ing their demands as he was in resisting the demands! 
of the freemen. 

Once, and only once, he was called upon by the 
General Court to render an account of his receipts 
and expenditures as governor. He did so, showing 
that he had expended for the commonwealth more 
than a thousand pounds in excess of his receipts, and, 



THE BEGINNING. 21 

with modest dignity, he added this conckision to his 
report : 

' ' I condude with this one request, which in justice may 
not be denied me, that as it stands upon record that upon 
the discharge of my office I was called to account, so this 
declaration may be recorded also, lest hereafter, when I 
shall be forgotten, some blemish may lie upon my posterity, 
when there shall be nothing to clear it." 

More than two hundred and fifty j^ears have rolled 
by since this declaration was made, and yet Win- 
throp is not forgotten, nor has any blemish been 
found upon his record for his posterity to clear away. 

The other figure is that of Endicott. Bold, im- 
petuous, of unflinching convictions and indomitable 
will, he too was destined to wield great influence in 
the colony. 

Mr. Fiske,^ coupling him with Norton, styles them 
*' two as arrant fanatics as ever drew breath ' ' ; and Mr. 
Brooks Adams, describing him as he sat at the trial 
of Wenlock Christison, smiting^ the table in an<rer 
and upbraiding the judges for their timidity and urg- 
ing them to pass the sentence of death, gives us the 
grim picture of a man wearing a harsh face, looking 
down from under a black skull-cap, with determined 
mouth and massive jaw, ''almost heroic in his fero- 
cious bigotry and daring." 

This is not a pleasant picture to look upon. One 
who has read the "Emancipation of Massachusetts" 
can not help feeling that the artist who drew the pict- 
ure was not less ferocious than the figure he paints for 

^Beginnings of Nevj England^ 179, 



22 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

US. Still, no matter how we draw the picture — how we 
arrange the colors and dispose the lights and shades — 
Y/e can not make a picture of Endicott as lovable, as 
pleasant to look upon, as that of Winthrop; the two 
were of altogether different types. But surely v/e 
can find in Endicott's character something to relieve 
the harshness of the portraits which Mr. Fiske and 
Mr. Adams have given us. 

No one ever questioned Endicott's honest}', his 
courage, his frankness, or his unselfish devotion to 
public interests as he understood them. These are 
among the noblest of manly qualities. 

It is quite easy, looking back over two hundred 
years, with the increased knowledge acquired in that 
time, to pick out the faults and mistakes of men then 
on the stage, and it is not very difticult to persuade 
ourselves that some of them were "fanatics." And 
yet it is not always so easy to determine whether the 
world v/ould have been better off without them than 
with them. 

In ordinary times, when the affairs of state are 
moving along smoothly, men like Polonius seem to 
be most popular v/ith the people. But there are times 
when men of intense convictions, great courage, un- 
tiring energy, and resolute determination are the 
leaders most needed. In their excess of zeal they 
sometimes do things that more amiable men would 
not do. But when great reforms are to be pushed, 
when great revolutions are to be fought out, such men 
achieve results which would be impossible without 
them. 

The emergencies which call such men to the front 



THE BEGINNING . 23 

usually require them to decide promptly and to act 
boldly, and the men we want in such emergencies 
are very apt sometimes to act arbitrarily. Grant did 
not hesitate when he banished the Jews from his mil- 
itary department ; neither did Endicott when he sent 
the Brownes back to Eno^land. 

Vv^e should not, in this age, like to see another 
Cromwell in England turning parliament out of 
doors at the point of the bayonet. But without 
Cromwell and his psalm-singing hosts at Marston 
Moor, English history and English liberty would 
probably be far different from what they are to-day. 

John Brown at Harper's Ferry seems to be a typ- 
ical fanatic, wasting human life in a hopeless and id- 
iotic undertaking. But who can say now how much 
he did toward awakening the nation out of its leth- 
argy and breaking the spell in which slavery had 
bound it? 

Endicott, tearing the cross from the British flag 
because it was a symbol of Popery, may seem to us 
nov/ to have acted very foolishly and fanaticall}-. 
That he and his fellow Puritans committed a p-riev- 
ous mistake in their persecution of the Baptists and 
the Quakers, most of us will freely admit. But, after all 
these concessions, the question remains, whether the 
commonwealth would have been better off vrithout 
Endicott than with him. 

He had gone with the first little company sent by 
John White to America before Vvlnthrop had 
thought of going. It may be doubted whether Win- 
throp would have undertaken what Endicott did. 

During Endicott' s life, the little colony was men- 



24 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

aced with great dangers and difficulties within and 
without. It was torn with internal dissensions. 
There were bloody conflicts with the Indians who 
stood on the borders, ever threatening slaughter and 
desolation. Powerful foes in England were con- 
stantly scheming for the destruction of the infant 
commonwealth. One after another of the Ameri- 
can colonial governments went down. The Massa- 
chusetts commonwealth alone faced the King^ of 
England to the last and yielded only to overpower- 
ing force. 

In all these conflicts and dangers it is easy to see 
the figure of Endicott, to discern the influence of his 
iron resolution and dauntless courage, and, despite 
all his faults, to perceive his utter abandonment 
of all thoughts of self-interest, and his unselfish and 
untiring devotion to what he sincerely considered the 
welfare of his fellow-colonists. The secretary of 
state, under King Charles II, wrote a letter in which 
he said, " the King would take it well if the people 
would leave out Mr. Endicott from the place of Gov- 
ernor." It may be that, without Endicott, a repub- 
lic would have come sometiiue — but when? And 
what kind of republic would have come? So that, 
after all, perhaps it may be that the considerate judg- 
ment of posterity will accord with that of Palfre}^,^ 
who says that "New England, when she counts 
up the benefactors eminently worthy of her grateful 
and reverent remembrance, can never omit his 
name." 

Between the colonists and Old England, which 

^ Vol. 2, p. 600. 



THE BEGINNING. 25 

the most of them had looked upon for the last time 
when the}^ left its shores, were three thousand miles 
of ocean. They had left dear homes and kindred 
and old associations, around which clung many ten- 
der memories. Before them was a vast continent 
and dense forests filled with savage beasts and sav- 
age men. A New England winter was coming on 
and homes were to be hewn out of the wilderness, 
fields were to be opened and tilled, food and cloth- 
ing were to be provided, and in this "corner of the 
earth" a government was to be established. 

A few white men had preceded the colonists of the 
Massachusetts company and had already made open- 
ings in the otherwise unbroken solitude around them. 
AVilliam Blackstone had settled at Shawmut and 
"claimed the whole peninsula upon which Boston is 
built because he was the first that slept upon it." 
Samuel Maverick was living upon Noddles Island, 
where he had built a little fort armed with four cannon. 
There were also a few families at Mattapan (Dor- 
chester) , and a few on the north side of the Charles 
river (Charlestown), who had moved there from 
Salem. There were also at the same time, or soon 
after, some families at Saugus (afterward Lynn). 

On June 17, 1630, five da3^s after the arrival of 
Winthrop at Salem, he and some of the principal 
colonists set out through the woods "to look out for 
a convenient place for their chief town," but they 
could not agree as to the location, and settled at 
various places, so that before the following winter 
there were settlements at Salem, Boston, Charles- 



25 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

town, Mattapan (Dorchester), Watertown, Roxbury, 
Mystic and Saugus (Lynn.) 

The colonists had all that they could do for several 
months after their arrival to provide shelter and 
food for the coming winter, but they were ill-pre- 
pared for it when it came. The weather became very 
cold on December 24, and we may well believe what 
Hutchinson says that ^ ^ such a Christmas eve they had 
never seen before." Their provisions ran short, and 
even those who were in better circumstances than the 
others were compelled to live chiefly on clams and 
roasted acorns, and for several months their chief con- 
cern was to keep themselves alive. Many succumbed 
to their hardships and sickened and died, but those who 
were left were not of a kind to abandon the enter- 
prise upon which they had set their hearts and staked 
their fortunes and their lives. They had taken the 
most difficult step when they had made a beginning. 



II 

MAKING A GOVERNMENT 

The colonists undoubtedly had considered the 
establishment of a government of some kind before 
they left England. Undoubtedly also they were 
confronted on their arrival here with many new 
conditions which would necessarily have to be taken 
into consideration in any kind of government that 
they might attempt to frame and upon whatever 
foundation it might be established. 

None of the colonists at that time seem to have en- 
tertained any idea of basing their government upon 
any other foundation than the charter which had 
been granted by King Charles I. They would have 
preferred a broader one if they could have obtained it, 
but the one they had was as liberal as they could get, 
and the only thing to do was to make the best of^ it.' 
But in the climate of New England the charter 
took on a marvelous growth, of which, at the time 
it was granted, neither Charles I nor those to whom 
it was granted could have had the slightest concep- 
tion—more man-elous because of what was grafted 
upon it after it was transplanted here. 

Whether the company had any legal right to trans- 
fer the corporation, charter and all, from England to 
America, is one of the questions about which there 
has been dispute from that time to this. But, whether 

(27) 



28 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

lawfully transferred or not, the charter was now on 
this side of the Atlantic, very fortunately for the col- 
onists, as events subsequently proved, and whatever 
authority the members of the company had, or ever 
acquired, from either the King or the Parliament of 
England, to set up any kind of government in America, 
was contained in this document. As the colonists 
construed it, the authority it conferred was very ex- 
tensive, and this is the reason why those who acted, 
or professed to act, under it, clung to it so long and 
so tenaciously and parted with it so reluctantly. 

The evolution of the company from what some 
have termed a mere trading corporation into a great 
body politic, has given rise to profound discussions 
and is full of interest to all historical and political 
students. The men who procured the charter were 
sagacious and far-seeing, but it is doubtful if, when 
they obtained it, they imagined that it conferred all 
the powers that were afterwards claimed and exer- 
cised under it. Certainly Charles I never dreamed 
of granting such powers. Some of its provisions, it 
is true, were similar to those contained in the charter 
of the East India Company and of other trading cor- 
porations. It was understood to confer upon the 
grantees the absolute proprietary right, subject to 
certain specified reservations as to minerals, etc., 
in favor of the Crown, to all the territory included 
in the grant. Some of the powers granted, how- 
ever, were so extensive and so loosely limited that 
much was left to construction.^ 

^ copies of the charter maybe found in Hutchinson's Ct>//., 1-24; I 
Mass. Rec, T^-20\Charters and Constitutions (Poore), pp. 932-942. 



MAKING A GOVERNPvIENT. 29 

Among other powers granted to the corporation 
was the power to elect a governor, a deputy governor 
and eighteen assistants, to be chosen by the freemen 
of the company. They were to meet once a month, 
or oftener if they saw fit, and seven or more of the 
assistants, together with the governor or the deputy 
governor, were to constitute a quorum. Four times 
in each year "one greate generall and solempe as- 
sembHe" was to be called together, " which foure gen- 
erall assemblies shall be stiled and called the foure 
greate and generall Courts of the saide Company." 
These were authorized to admit new freemen and 

" To make Lawes and Ordinances for the Good and Wel- 
fare of the saide Company, and for the Government and 
ordering of the saide Lands and Plantation, and the People 
inhabiting and to inhabit the same, as to them from tyme to 
tyme shall be thought meete, soe as such Laws and Ordinances 
be not contrarie or repugnant to the Laws and Statuts of this 
our Realme of England." 

Still more specific authority was given the General 
Court in a subsequent portion of the charter, 

"To make, ordeine, and establishe all Manner of whole- 
some and reasonable Orders, Lawes, Statutes, and Ordi- 
nances, Directions, and Instructions, not contrarie to the 
Laws of this our Realme of England, as well for setting of 
the Formes, and Ceremonies of Government and Magis- 
tracy, fitt and necessary for the said Plantation, and the In- 
habitants there, and for nameing and stiling of all sorts of 
Officers, both superior and inferior, which they shall finde 
needefull for that Government and Plantation, and the dis- 
tinguishing and setting forth of the sevcrall duties, Powers, 



30 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

and Lymytts of every such Office and Place, and the Formes 
of such Oathes warrantable by the Lawes and Statutes of 
this our Realme of England, as shall be respectivelie mhiis- 
tred unto them for the Execution of the said severall 
Offices and Places; as also, for the disposing and ordering 
of the Elections of such of the said officers as shalbe annuall, 
and of such others as shalbe to succeede in case of Death 
or Removeall, and ministring the said Oathes to the nevve 
elected Officers, and for Impositions of lawfull Fynes, Mulcts, 
Imprisonment, or other lawfull Correction, according to the 
Course of other Corporations in this our Realme of England, 
and for the directing, ruling, and disposeing of all other 
Matters and Thinges, whereby our said People, Inhabitants 
there, may be soe religiously, peaceabiie, and civilly gov- 
erned, as their good Life and orderlie Conversation, male 
wynn and incite the Natives of Country, to the Knowledg 
and Obedience of the onlie true God and Savior of Man- 
kinde, and the Christian Fayth, which in our Royall Inten- 
tion, and the Adventurers free Profession, is the principal! 
Ende of this Plantation." 

The officers of the company were given 

" Full and Absolute Power and Authoritie to correct, pun- 
ishe, pardon, governe, and rule all such the Subjects of Us, 
our Heiress and Successors, as shall from Tyme to tyme 
adventure themselves in any Voyadge thither or from thence, 
or that shall at any tyme hereafter, inhabite within the 
Precincts and Partes of Newe England aforesaid, according 
to his Orders, Lawes, Ordinances, Instructions, and Direc- 
tions aforesaid, not being repugnant to the Lawes and Stat- 
utes of our P.ealme of England as aforesaid." 

Authority was given also 

"To incounter, expulse, repell, and resist by Force of 



MAKING A GOVERNMENT. 3 1 

Armes, as well by Sea as by Lande, and by all fitting Wales 
and Meanes whatsoever, all such Person and Persons, as 
shall at any Tynie hereafter, attempt or enterprise the De- 
struction, Invasion, Detriment, or Annoyance to the said 
Plantation or Inhabitants, and to take and surprise by all 
waics and meanes whatsoever, all and every such Person and 
Persons with their Shippes, Armour, Munition, and other 
Goodes, as shall in hostile manner invade or attempt the de- 
feating of the said Plantation or the Hurt of the said Com- 
pany and Inhabitants." 

One of the limitations, it will be noticed, upon the 
power given to make laws, was, that they should not 
be " contrarie or repugnant" to the laws of Eng- 
land. Another limitation was, 

"That all and every the Subjects of Us, our Heiress or 
Successors, which shall goe to and inhabite within the saide 
Landes and Premisses hereby mentioned to be graunted, and 
every of their Children which shall happen to be borne 
there, or on the Seas in goeing thither, or retorning from 
thence, shall have and enjoy all liberties and Immunities of 
free and naturall Subjects within any of the Domynions of 
Us, our Heires or Successors, to all intents, constructions, 
and Purposes whatsoever, as yf they and everie of them 
were borne within the Realme of England." 

It was further provided that, 

" Theis our Letters patents * * * shall be construed 
reputed and adjudged in all Cases most favorablie on the 
Behalf, and for the Benefitt and Behoofc of the saide Gov- 
ernor and Company and their Successors." 

These grants of governmental powers, in connec- 
tion with the fact that the chief and evident purpose 



32 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

of the charter was to establish in a distant country a 
colony which would necessarily require a local gov- 
ernment of some kind, of course implied such addi- 
tional powers as were necessary to render effectual 
those expressly granted. It will be noted that the 
power granted to make laws was not limited to the 
making of mere by-laws for the regulation of cor- 
porate business or the corporate rights of the mem- 
bers. Jurisdiction was given over the ^* people in- 
habiting and to inhabit " the territory covered by the 
grant. The power and the jurisdiction so given were 
far greater than those necessary to enable a mere 
trading corporation to make by-laws and carry on 
business. They were much more extensive than the 
power and jurisdiction usually granted to municipal 
corporations in England at that time, or to such cor- 
porations in England or America at this day. 

On the other hand the limitations already men- 
tioned, and various others contained in the charter, 
indicate very clearly that Charles I had no intention 
of relinquishing sovereign control over the colony. 
Indeed he would have had no right to do so, even if 
he had so intended. The charter also expressly re- 
served the right of the sovereign power to collect 
*' taxes, subsidies and customes," subject to certain 
exceptions, the most important of which were limited 
in duration to periods of from seven to twenty-one 
years. 

It is obvious, however, that the charter left a large 
jurisdictional territory with very obscurely defined 
limits. Its language upon many questions, certain to 
be raised in controversies that were sure to arise, left 



MAKING A GOVERNMENT. 33 

much to construction, without the aid of any wen set- 
tled legal rules or precedents, and was calculated to 
cause, as it did cause, grave doubts and violent dif- 
ferences of opinion, some of which remain unsettled 
to this day. 

As shown in a subsequent chapter^ the con- 
struction which the colonists themselves, at a later 
period, gave to the charter, clearly appears in 
their discussions, after the execution of Charles I, as 
to their relation '' to the State of Eng-land " and 
*'what subjection we owed to that State." But 
some of the views entertained at that time were not 
even then publicly promulgated, and were not hinted 
at in any public record, document, or correspondence, 
while any king ruled in England. 

No king ever acquiesced in the colonists' claim of 
right to exercise all of the powers which the}^ did ex- 
ercise, and afterwards, as explained in a subsequent 
chapter,^ the exercise of such powers was successfully 
urged in England as a legal justification for the revo- 
cation of the charter; while in Massachusetts the 
legality of such revocation was never conceded.^ 

Whatever powers and jurisdiction were granted by 
the charter, it was upon this document that the colo- 
nists based, or professed to base, the government 
which they established. 

There were, of course, no clearly marked bounda- 
ries in the charter between the executive, the legisla- 
tive and the judicial powers of the government. The 

1 Chapter XIII. 

2 Chapter XVI. 

'Chief-justice Shaw in Commonwealth vs. Alger, 7 Cush. 53-92. 

Pur. Rep. — 3 



34 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

governor does not seem to have been vested, either 
by the charter or by the laws subsequently enacted, 
with very extensive executive powers; but, from time 
to time, as the necessity for them arose, various gen- 
eral and local executive officers were provided for. 

One of the first things attempted, as stated in the 
preceding chapter, was to locate the seat of govern- 
ment, but the location was not agreed upon until 
some time afterwards. In the second 3^ear the gov- 
ernor took down the frame of the house which he 
had erected in Newtown, and set it up at Shawmut, 
afterwards called Boston, from Boston in England, 
v.^here the Rev. John Cotton had lived. The General 
Court met there on October 19, 1630, ''for the estab- 
lishinge of the government," and at a meeting held 
there on October 3, 1632, it was "thought b}' generall 
consent that Boston is the fittest place for publique 
meetings of any place in the Bay." And so Boston 
became the capital of the infant commonwealth. 
^ Before this time, however, a government had 
'f been started. On August 23, 1630, ten weeks after 
Winthrop's arrival, the first meeting of the Court of 
Assistants in New England was held at Charlestown. 
At this meeting " Impse : it was propounded howe 
the ministers should be maintained, Mr. Wilson and 
Mr. Phillips only propounded." At the same meet- 
ing the process in civil actions was defined and the 
wages of carpenters and other mechanics were fixed. 
It was also " ordered that the Governor and Deputy 
Governor for the tyme being shall alwaies be jus- 
tices of ye peace, and that Sir Richard Saltonstall, 
Mr. Johnson & Mr. Ludlowe shall be justices of the 



MAKING A GOVERNMENT. 35 

peace for the present tyme ; in all things to have like 
power that justices of peace hath in England for ref- 
ormation of abuses and punishing of offenders ; and 
that any justice of the peace ma}^ imprison an offend- 
er, but not to inflict any corporall punishment with- 
out tlie presence and Consent of some one of the As- 
sistants."^ The processes to be used in civil actions 
were also defined. 

It soon became necessary to determine who should 
be entitled to the privileges of citizenship and what 
qualifications should be required. It has been sup- 
posed that not more than twenty of the original mem- 
bers of the company ever came over from England, 
and some of these returned. The great majority of 
those v/ho were not freemen, but v/ho had, equally 
with those who were freemen, contributed to the es- 
tablishment of the colony, would not v/illingly have 
consented to be shut out from au}^ voice in the man- 
agement of its affairs. IMoreover it was necessary, 
in order to carry on the government, to admit some 
of them to the privileges of citizenship. But, until 
the first General Court was held on October 19, 1630, 
none had been admitted freemen. One hundred and 
eighteen of the colonists had previously given notice 
of their desire to be admitted, and these were ad- 
mitted at the first meeting. No religious test was 
then required. 

Up to this time the management of the colony had 
been exercised chiefly by the governor and the as- 
sistants, and the latter, being desirous of retaining 
their power, had prevailed upon the freemen to con- 

^ Mass. Rec, Vol. i, pp. 73, 74. 



2,6 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

sent to orders, the object of which was to perpetuate 
the assistants in office and to give them the power of 
choosing the governor and deputy governor. But at 
the General Court of election in May, 1631, the free- 
men, in the meantime, having come to a clearer under- 
standing of the charter, resumed the power, which it 
expressly gave them, of electing not only the governor 
and deputy governor, but the assistants also. At the 
same General Court a religious qualification was re- 
quired as a condition precedent to admission to the priv- 
ileges of citizenship, and it was now "ordered and 
agreed that for time to come noe man shall be admit- 
ted to the freedome of this body politique but such as 
are members of some of the Churches within the lym- 
etts of the same." And no one could be admitted a 
freeman except upon taking the following oath : 

" I A. B. being, by Gods providence, an inhabitant & 
ffreeman within the jurisdiction of this Commonweal, doe 
freely acknowledge myself to be subject to the government 
thereof & therefore doe hereby Sweare, by the greate & 
dreadfull name of the everlyveing God, that I will be true 
and faithful to the same & will accordingly yeilde assistance 
& support thereunto, with my personal estate, as in Equity 
I am bound, & will also truely indeavor to mainetaine & pre- 
serve all the libertyes and privilidges thereof submitting 
myselfe to the wholesome lawes & orders made & estab- 
lished by the same, and furthur that I will not plott nor 
practice any evill against it, nor consent to any that shall soe 
doe, but will timely discover & reveale the same to lawful 
aucthority nowe here established, for the speedy preventing^ 
thereof. Moreover, I doe solemnely bynde myself, in the 
sight of God, that when I shal be called to give my voice 
touching any such matter of this State, wherein freemen. 



MAKING A GOVERNMENT. 37 

are to deale, I will give my vote and suffrage, as I shall 
judge in my own conscience may best conduce & tend to 
the publique weale of the body, without respect of persons 
or favor of any man. Soe helpe mee God, in the Lord 
Jesus Christ." 

Every man over 20 years of age, after having been 
a resident over six months and not admitted a free- 
man, was required to take the following oath of alle- 
giance, upon pain of banishment in case of refusal: 

" I doe hereby sweare and call God to witness, that be- 
ing nowe an inhabitant within this jurisdiction of the Massa- 
chusetts, I doe acknowledge myselfe lawfully subject to the 
aucthoritie and government there established, and doe ac- 
cordingly submitt my person, family and estate, to be pro- 
tected ordered & governed by the laws and constitutions 
thereof and doe faithfully promise to be from time to time 
obedient and conformeable thereunto, and to the aucthoritie 
of the Governor & all other magistrates there and their suc- 
cessors and to all such lawes, orders, sentences, & decrees, 
as nowe are or hereafter shalbe lawfully made, decreed & 
published by them or their successors. And I will alwayes 
indeavor (as in duty I am bound) to advance the peace & 
well being of this body politique, and I will (to my best 
power & means) seeke to divert & prevent whatsoever may 
tende to the ruine or damage thereof, or of ye Governor, 
Deputy Governor, or Assistants or any of them or thc'r 
successors, and will give speedy notice to them, or some cf 
them, of any sedition, violence, treachcrie, or other hurte or 
evill which I shall knowe, heare, or vehemently suspect to 
be plotted or intended against them or any of them, or 
against the said Commonwealth or government established. 
So help mee God." 



38 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

Another question to be settled was the question as 
to the exercise of the legislative power. This was at 
first assumed by the assistants, but very soon the 
freemen demanded a right to representation, and in 
1634 provision was made for the election of deputies 
to the General Court from each tov/n. 

There was no provision in the charter for estab- 
lishing courts of any kind, but judicial as well as 
legislative power, from the beginning, was assumed 
by the General Court, and it exercised exclusive juris- 
diction in both civil and criminal proceedings until 
1639. In that 3^ear, and from time to time afterward, 
the Court of Assistants, county courts and various 
inferior courts were established, the General Court 
retaining appellate jurisdiction. The General Court 
exercised and retained original and exclusive chancery 
jurisdiction until 16S5, when such jurisdiction was 
conferred upon the magistrates of the county courts.-^ 

The exercise of the taxing power by the assistants 
caused much vigorous opposition and resulted in an 
order by the General Court in 1 63 2 , "that there should 
be two of every plantation appointed to confer with 
the Court about raising of a publique stock," a meas- 
ure which, as Palfrey states, "proved to be the germ 
of a second house of legislature." 

Measures were early taken for putting the colony 
upon a military footing, and forts and fortifications 
were erected at Castle Island, Charlestown, Salem 
and other points, train-bands were established, pro- 
visions made for watches and for the distribution of 
arms and ammunition, and military commissions 

^ See Chapter III as to the jurisdiction and procedure of the courts. 



MAKING A GOVERNINIENT. 39 

were, from time to time, created with general power 
*'to dispose of all military affaires whatsoever." 

Laws were also passed, which will be more partic- 
ularly noted in another chapter, providing what 
should be a legal tender in payment of debts and 
taxes ; also laws regulating weights and measures, 
and registr37- laws. New towns were from time to 
time established, and laws were enacted authorizing 
and defining the exercise of the right of local self- 
government. The beginning of a mail S3'stem was 
also made by appointing Richard Fairbanks, of Bos- 
ton, postmaster, with authority to receive and deliver 
letters at specified rates. Various other laws of a 
general nature were enacted, some of which will be 
more particularly mentioned in subsequent chapters. 

Much of the time of the General Court during the 
first ten j^ears seems to have been taken up with set- 
tling disputes between towns as to their boundaries, 
and providing for the construction of roads and 
bridges and ferries and keeping them in repair, 
granting licenses for inns or ordinaries, and regulat- 
ing the running at large of cattle and swine. Most 
matters of merely local concern were afterwards re- 
ferred to the various towns. 

From the beginning, the authorities of the little 
colony asserted the supremacy and dignity of the new 
commonwealth, and enforced respect to it and its 
officers. Thomas Dexter, in 1632, was ordered to 
be "sett in the bilbowes, disfranchised & fined 40 £ 
forspeakeing reproachful «& seditious words against the 
government here established & findeing fault to dyvers 
with the acts of the Court, sayeing this captious gov- 



40 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

ernment will bring all to naught, adding that the best 
of them was but an atturney." And the next year, 
*'Capt. John Stone for his outrage committed in con- 
fronting aucthority, abusing Mr. Ludlowe [one of 
the assistants] both in words and behavour, assault- 
ing him & calling him a just as^ is fined loo £, and 
prohibited comeing within this pattent without leave 
from the Government under penalty of death." 
Peter Bussaker was " fined 5 £ for sleiteing the mag- 
istrates, or what they could do, saying they could 
but fine him." Richard Silvester, "for speaking 
against the law about hogs «& against a particular 
magistrate was fined ten pounds." 

Speaking disrespectfully of the churches or minis- 
ters was also severely punished. Katherine Finch 
for "speaking against the magistrates, against the 
churches & against the elders, was sensured to be 
whipped & committed till the General Court." '*Mr. 
Ambros Martin, for calling the church covenant a 
stinking carryon & a humane invention & saying he 
wondered at God's patience, feared it would end in 
the Sharpe & said the ministers did dethrone Christ 
& set up themselves \ he was fined 10 £ & counselled 
to go to Mr. Mather to bee instructed by him." Two 
Indian women were "adjudged to be whipped for 
their insolent carriage & abusing Mr. Weld," one of 
the ministers. Samuel Norman "was committed for 
want of security & was censured to be whipped for 
saying if ministers which come will but raile against 
England some would receive them." Edward Tora- 
lins got into trouble by expressing "his opinions 



MAKING A GOVERNMENT. 4 1 

aganst singing in the churches," but upon "retract- 
ing" them he was discharged. 

Strict surveillance was also exercised by the au- 
thorities over those who, it was feared, might con- 
taminate the colony by their vicious lives or heretical 
opinions, and in several instances such persons were 
banished under penalty of death in case of their re- 
turn without permission. 

William Foster "was informed that wee conceive 
him not fit to live with us : therefore hee was wished 
to depart before the General Court in March next."' 
Mr. Thomas Makepeace, "because of his novile dis- 
position was informed wee were weary of him, unless 
hee reforme." 

Some of those banished were so dealt with chiefly 
on account of their immoral conduct, but others were 
banished solely for the reason that their religious 
opinions were deemed unsound and pernicious. John 
Wheelwright, Francis Hutchinson and others were so 
dealt with at an early date, and many others at a later 
period. 

Careful scrutiny was also made of every new-comer, 
and in 1637 ^^ ^^^ ordered, under severe penalties, 
that " noe towne or person shall receive any stranger 
resorting hither with intent to reside in this jurisdic- 
tion, nor shal alow any lot or habitation to any, or 
intertaine any such above three weekes, except such 
person shal have alowance under the hands of some 
one of the counsell or of two other of the magis- 
trates."^ Those who had been excommunicated by 
the churches were special objects of suspicion, and 

^Mass. Rec, Vol. i, pp. 196, 228. 



42 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

in 1638, a very severe law was passed providing' 
that : 

' ' Whereas it is found by sad experience that diverse per- 
sons, who have been justly cast out of some of the churches 
do prophanely contemne the same sacred & dreadful ordi- 
nance, by presenting themselves overbouldly in other as- 
semblies & speaking lightly of their censures, to the great 
offence & greefe of God's people & incuragement of evil 
minded persons to contemne the said ordinance, it is there- 
ford ordered, that whosoever shall stand excommunicate for 
the space of 6 months without laboring what in him or her 
lyeth to be restored, such person shal bee presented to the 
court of Assistants & there proceeded with by fine, impris- 
onment, banishment or furthur, for the good behaviour, as 
their contempt & obstinacy upon full hearing shall deserve."^ 

It is true that this harsh law was repealed the next 
year,^ but prosecutions continued for a long time 
afterwards, which, though nominally for violation of 
some other law, were in reality designed to punish by 
fine, imprisonment, or banishment, those who had 
been expelled from the churches. 

In the ten years following the first meeting of the 
Court of Assistants in 1630, the little colony had 
made rapid progress in establishing a govern- 
ment. A capital had been selected; the framework 
of a legislative and of a judicial system had been con- 
structed; a system of taxation had been devised; reg- 
ulations had been adopted for the acquisition and 
transfer of real and personal property; a military es- 
tablishment had been effected; a beginning had been 
made in the system of local governments, and many 

* Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 242. 
2 Mass. Rec, Vol. 1, p. 271. 



INIAKING A GOVERNMENT. 43 

minor details in puttinj^ into operation and canying 
on a government had been settled. The territory of 
the little commonwealth had expanded and the pop- 
ulation had increased. In 1640 there were 17 towns 
included in the tax rate, and at the General Court held 
in 1 64 1 there were, besides the governor and the as- 
sistants, 35 deputies. But there were still lacking 
some essentials of a well-ordered government. There 
was nothing, beyond the charter, bearing even the 
semblance of a constitution defining the cardinal 
rights of the citizens, nor was there anything like a 
code of laws. 

When the first deputies came together they at 
once demanded "a sight of the patent," and, hav- 
ing examined it, they came to the conclusion that 
all the prior laws, not inade by the General Court, 
were illegal and should be abrogated. The governor, 
however, gave them an explanation on this point 
which eased their minds. 

But the deputies were not satisfied with the man- 
ner in which the laws were made and enforced. Some 
had not been made by the General Court; none had 
been printed; the}?^ had not been compiled or ar- 
ranged in any methodical order, and they were 
buried in records to which the general public had 
not access. If the magistrate himself knew what the 
law was, it was likely that the litigants did not, and 
they were not allowed law3'crs to find it for them. 
But often there was no law at all governing the case, 
and then the magistrate decided according to the 
scripture rule, if one could be found to fit the litigation. 
If, as frequently happened, neither legal nor scrip- 



44 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

tural authority could be found, then the magistrate 
decided according to his own notions of justice or 
upon the advice of the ministers. Persons were tried 
and punished, and sometimes very severely punished, 
for offenses not defined in any statute of England or 
of the commonwealth. Men were banished from 
the colony though no specific crime had been 
proved or alleged against them, and without any 
reason publicly given other than the statement that 
^ ' they were not fit to live with us . " They were even ar- 
raigned and reprimanded for alleged misconduct 
committed on the other side of the Atlantic, and be- 
fore they had become residents of the commonwealth, 
as in the case of John Woolrige, who, "appearing 
upon the indictment of the grand jury, confessed his 
fraude & drunkenness in Ould England, for which 
he was sharply reproved & seriously admonished." 
Until the adoption in 1641 of the Body of Liberties, 
"the law dispensed by the magistrates," according 
to Palfrey, "was no other than equity as its prin- 
ciples and rules existed in their own reason and con- 
science instructed by Scripture." 

This was a very loose and unsatisfactory method 
of determining legal rights. The freemen of the 
colony soon became restive under it, and, as early as 
1635? " the deputies, having conceived great danger 
to our state, in regard that our magistrates, for want 
of positive laws, in many cases might proceed ac- 
cording to their discretions,"^ insisted upon the adop- 
tion of a body of "fundamental laws." 

Accordingly, in May, 1635, the governor, the 

* Winthrop, Vol. i, p. i6o. 



MAKING A GOVERNMENT. 45 

deputy governor, John Winthrop and Thomas Dr.d- 
le}-, Esq., were deputed by the General Court "to 
make a draught of such lawes as they shall judge 
needefuU for the well-ordering of this plantation & to 
present the same to the Court." In May, 1636, a 
further order was made that ; 

"The Governor, Deputy Governor, Tho. Dudley, John 
Haynes, Rich. Bellingham, Esq., Mr. Cotton, Mr. Peters & 
Mr. Shepheard are intreated to make a draught of lawes 
agreeable to the word of God, which may be the ffundamen- 
talls of this Commonwealth & to present the same to the 
nexte General Court. And it is ordered that in the meane 
tyme the magistrates and their assistants shall proceede in 
the Courts to heare & determine all causes according to the 
laws nowe established & where there is noe law, then as 
neere the lawe of God as they can." 

On the 25th of October, in the same year, the Rev. 
John Cotton, who had been "requested by the Gen- 
eral Court, with some other ministers, to assist some 
of the magistrates in compiling a body of fundamental 
laws, did this court present a copy of Moses, his ju- 
dicials, compiled in an exact method."^ Doubtless it 
occurred to some of the General Court that Moses 
himself would probably have made some additions 
to the Mosaic law to make it suit the necessities of 
the people inhabiting the colony of Massachusetts 
Bay, and so Cotton's code was not adopted. The 
subject came up again in the General Court held in 
March, 1637-8, and in an order reciting how it had 
been found, "by the little time of experience wee 
have heare had, that the want of written lawes have 

* Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 202. 



46 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

put the Court into many doubts & much trouble in 
many particular cases," it was directed that the free- 
men of each town should 

"Assemble together in their severall townes & collect the 
heads of such necessary & fundamental! lawes as may bee 
sutable to the times & places whear God by his providence 
hath cast us & the heads of such laws to deliver in writing 
to the Governor for the time being before the 5 th day of the 
4th month, called June, next, to the intent that the same 
Governor, together with the best of the standing council & 
Richard Bellingham Esq., Mr. Bulkley, Mr. Phihps, Mr. 
Peters, & Mr. Shepard, elders of severall Churches, Mr. 
Nathaniel Ward, Mr. William Spencer, & Mr. Will Hau- 
thorne, or the major part of them, may, upon survey of 
such heads of lawes, make a compendious abrigment of the 
same by the General Court in Autume next, adding yet to 
the same or detracting therefrom what in their wisdomes 
shall seeme meete." 

The same committee was directed to prepare, for 
submission to the General Court, a revision of the 
orders already made. In 1639 ^^ ^^^ ordered that 

"The Governor, Deputy Governor, Treasurer & Mr. 
Stoughton or any three of them, with two or more of the 
deputies of Boston, Charlestowne, or Roxbury, shall peruse 
all those modells which have bene or shalbe presented to 
this Court or themselves, concerning a forme of government 
& lawes to bee established & shall drawe them up into one 
(altering, ading, or omiting what they shall thinke fit) & 
shall take order that the same shalbee coppied out & sent to 
the severall townes, that the elders of the churches & free- 
men may consider of them against the next Generall Court," 



MAKING A GOVERNMENT. 4^^ 

At the General Court held in Tvlay, 1640, an order 
was made reciting that "Whereas a breviateof lawes 
was formerty sent fourth to bee considered by the 
elders of the churches & other freemen of this com- 
monwealth, it is now desired that they will endevor 
to ripen their thoughts and counsells about the same 
by the Generall Court in the next 8th month." Such 
progress was made that in October, 1641, '^The Gov- 
ernor and Mr. liauthorne were desired to speake to 
Mr. Ward for a coppey of the liberties & of the capi- 
tal! lawes to bee transcribed & sent to the severall 
townes," and in December following, "Mr. Deputy 
Endecot, Mr. Downing & Mr. Hauthorne are author- 
ized to get 19 coppies of the lawes, liberties & 
the formes of oathes transcribed and subscribed by 
their severall hands, & none to bee authentick but 
such as they subscribe & to bee paid for by the cun- 
stable of each towne los a peece for each coppey & 
to bee prepared within sixe weekes." 

The last entry in the record of the proceedings of 
the same General Court, said to be in the handwrit- 
ing of Gov. Winthrop, is this : "At this Court the 
bodye of lawes formerly sent forth among the ffree- 
men was voted to stand in force." 

The provisions of the Body of Liberties, thus 
adopted, will be more fully considered in the next 
chapter. Its adoption marks the completion of one 
of the most important of the preliminary proceedings 
in the establishment of a government for the new 
commonwealth. 



Ill 

PURITAN LAWS, LAWYERS AND COURTS 

It is difficult to write about law in such a way as 
to make what is written interesting even to lawyers, 
and much more difficult to make what is written in- 
teresting to the general reader. But we can not un- 
derstand the history of any people without knowing 
something about their laws, and it is utterly impossi- 
ble to understand the history of the Massachusetts 
Puritans without a close and careful study of those 
which they adopted. A very general outline of them, 
however, is all that will be attempted in this chapter. 
In regard to some of them more specific mention is 
made in other chapters. The steps preliminary to 
the adoption of the Body of Liberties have been men- 
tioned in the preceding chapter. The delay in en- 
acting a general code of laws, according to Winthrop, 
was due partly to the fact that the General Court 
wished fuller information as to the "nature and dis- 
position of the people," and partly to the fear of en- 
acting a code that might *' transgress the limits " of 
the charter. 

"Without overrating the influence of any one 
man," sa37s Mr. Whitmore,^ "in the preparation of 
this admirable code, and believing firmly that it em- 

^ Col. Laws 1660-1672, p. 19. 

(48) 



PURITAN LAWS, LAWTTERS AND COURTS. 49 

bodied the best judgment of Winthrop and other 
leaders, there seems to be no reason to doubt that 
the main Hterary work, at least, was due to Nathan- 
iel Ward, and that his legal abilities and training 
were at least equal to those of any of his associates." 
The code is not merely a curious relic of the past, 
but is of great historic value. Chief Justice Shaw^ 
says that ' ' the term ^ liberties ' was used as synony- 
mous with laws or legal rights founded and estab- 
lished by law." He suggests that they were so called 
because " it might seem to them less arrogant to set 
forth and declare their liberties and rights in this 
form than to enact in terms a body of laws which 
might seem to indicate a disregard for the authority 
of the ^lother Country." In the same opinion he 
says that "they bear internal evidence of having been 
drawn with great skill and legal accuracy and have 
a constant reference to the established principles of 
the laws of England." 

By this code it was provided that " No man's life 
shall be taken away, no man's honour or good name 
shall be stayned, no man's person shall be arested, 
restrayned, banished, dismembered, nor any wayes 
punished, no man shall be deprived of his wife or 
children, no man's goods or estaite shall be taken 
away from him, nor an}' way indammaged under 
coulor of law or Countenance of Authoritie, unlesse 
it be by vertue or equitie of some expresse law of the 
Country waranting the same, established by a gen- 
»erall Court and sufficiently published, or in case of 

* Commonwealth vs. Alger, 7 Cush. 53-70. 
Pur. Rep. — 4. 



5^ 



THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 



the defect of a law in any parteculer case by the word 
of god." 

It was also provided that ''Every person within 
this Jurisdiction, whether Inhabitant or forreiner, 
shall enjoy the same justice and law, that is generall 
for the plantation, which we constitute and execute 
one towards another without partialitie or delay." 

The right of trial by jury in both civil and criminal 
cases was secured. No man was to be twice sen- 
tenced "for the same crime, offence or Trespasse." 
Torture was forbidden except when, after conviction 
of a man, ''it is very apperent there be other con- 
spiratours or confederates with him. Then he may be 
tortured, yet not with such Tortures as be Barbarous 
and inhumane." Barbarous and inhuman bodily 
punishments were prohibited. Slavery and villein- 
age were prohibited "unless it be lawfuU Captives 
taken in just warres and such strangers as willingly 
selle themselves or are sold to us." Christian refu- 
gees ' ' from the Tiranny or oppression of their perse- 
cutors, or from famyne, warres, or other like neces- 
sary or cumpulsarie cause" were to be "entertayned 
and succoured." 

Ten crimes were punished capitally, viz., idolatry, 
witchcraft, blasphemy, murder, whether with pre- 
meditated malice or sudden anger or cruelty of 
passion, or "through guile, either by poysoning or 
other such divelish practice," bestiality, sodomy, 
adultery with a married or espoused wife, stealing, 
perjury in capital cases, and treason. 

The lawmakers, it is clear, did not then feel safe 
in declaring capital punishment except upon scrip- 



PURITAN LAWS, LAWYERS AND COURTS. 5 1 

tural authority, and fortified themselves with scrip- 
tural references which arc printed on the margin of 
the page whereon the offenses are defined. Thus 
the law against witchcraft is printed as follows: 

"Ex. 22, 18, 1 If any man or Woeman be a witch, 
Lev. 20, 27. )■ (that is hath or consulteth with a famil- 
Dut. 18, 10. j lar spirit,) They shall be put to death." 

Among the provisions respecting the transmission 
of property it was provided that "All our lands and 
heritages shall be free from all fines and licenses 
upon Alienations, and from all hariotts, wardships, 
Liveries, Primerseisins, yeare day and wast, Es- 
cheates, and forfeitures, upon the deaths of parents 
or Ancestors, be they naturall, casuall or juditiall." 

The laws in relation to judicial proceedings pro- 
vided for appeals and contained the essence of the 
English statute of amendments and jeofails by pro- 
viding that, " No summons, pleading. Judgement, or 
any kinde of proceeding in Court or course of Jus- 
tice, shall be abated, arested or reversed upon any 
kinde of cercumstantiall errors or mistakes, if the 
person and cause be rightly understood and intended 
by the Court." 

Monopolies were forbidden " but of such nev/ In- 
ventions that are profitable to the Countrie, and that 
for a short time." Other provisions in the Body of 
Liberties will be noted hereafter. 

Libel and slander were not specified as criminal 
offenses in the Body of Liberties, but in 1645 a law 
was passed^ whereby it was made a penal offense, 

^Col. Laws 1660-1672, p. 171. 



C2 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

punishable by fine and the stocks, for any person of 
the age of discretion (fourteen years), " to wittingly 
and willingly make or publish any 1)^6, which may be 
pernicious to the public weal, or tending to the dam- 
age or injury of any particular person, or with intent 
to deceive and abuse the people, with false newes and 
reports." | 

Some have looked upon this law as ridiculous and 
impracticable, but the object of it was probably 
not widely different from that of the modern laws 
against criminal libel. 

Other laws were enacted from time to time and 
several revisions were made, one in 1649, one in 
1660 and another in 1672. The revision of 1649 
was the first code of laws published in America. No 
copy of it is known to be extant, but it is supposed 
to have been incorporated into that of 1660.^ 

Besides the laws already mentioned, and those 
which will be specially mentioned in subsequent 
chapters, there are a few others deserving of atten- 
tion. 

A curious law was passed in relation to the election 
of assistants and the " stuffing of the ballot box" and 
illegal voting, whereby it was provided, "That for 
the yearly choosing of Assistants, the freemen shalL 
use Corn & Beanes, the Indian Corn to manifest Elec-| 
tion, the Beanes contrary, and if any freeman shall 

^ Recently there have been published, by authority of the city of Bos- 
ton, two volumes of these colonial laws, one containing the Body of Lib- 
erties, the revision of 1660, and the supplements to 1672 ; the other con- 
taining the revision of 1672 and the supplements to the dissolution of 
the General Court on May 20, 1686. These volumes have»been edited 
by Mr. William H. Whitmore, and are enriched with copious and valu- 
able notes. 



PURITAN LAWS, LAV/YERS AND COURTS. 53 

put in more than one Indian Corne or Beane for the 
Choice or refusal of any PubHc Officer, he shall for- 
feit for every such offense, Ten Pounds, and that any 
man that is not free, or hath not liberty of votino-^ 
putting in any vote shall forfeit the like Summ of Ten 
Pounds." 

The laws made minute provisions for the raising of 
revenue for the support of the general and local gov- 
ernments and defraying *'all common charges both 
civil and ecclesiastical," which included " an honor- 
able allowance * * * to the minister, respecting 
the ability of the place. ' ' Direct taxes were laid upon 
polls and real and personal property. Duties were 
imposed upon imported goods. License fees were col- 
lected from innkeepers, retail liquor dealers, Indian 
traders and others, and income taxes were collected 
of butchers, bakers, smiths, carpenters, millers and 
other artisans and handicraftsmen. Few exemptions, 
and these only to a partial extent (except in case of 
the ministers), were allowed. 

The taxes for the support of the general govern- 
ment, and the rates therefor, were established by the 
General Court. The town rates were fixed by officers 
selected by the inhabitants. 

Some difficulty seems to have been experienced In 
defining the tenure of lands, but the colonists found 
authority in the Bible. The Indian title was recoo-- 
nized m a law, passed in 1652, wherein "It is De- 
clared and Ordered by this Court and the Authority 
thereof that what Lands any of the Indians in this 
Jurisdiction have possessed and Improved by subdu- 
ing the same, they have just right unto, according 



54 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

to that in Gen. i, 28 & chap. 9, i and Psal. 115, 16." 
The same act provided redress "if any Plantation or 
Person of the EngHsh, shall offer injuriously to put 
any of the Indians from their Planting grounds or 
Fishing places," and prohibited the buying of land 
from any Indian " without license first had and ob- 
tained of the General Court." 

The same act defines the authority of the General 
Court over lands in the colony as follows: "And fur- 
ther it is ordered by this Court and the Authority 
thereof, and be it hereby Enacted, that all the tract 
of Land within this Jurisdiction, whether already 
graunted to any English plantations or persons, or to 
be graunted by this Court (not being under the qual- 
ifications of right to the Indians) is, and shall be ac- 
counted the just Right of such English as already 
have, or hereafter shall have graunt of Lands from 
this Court, and the Authority thereof ; from that of 
Genesis i, 28 and the Invitation of the Indians." 
Another law gave towns authority to " dispose of 
their own lands and woods." 

By the Body of Liberties* it was provided that the 
eldest son of a person dying intestate should have a 
double portion of the real and personal estate, unless 
the General Court should, for just cause, adjudge oth- 
erwise. By this it was probably intended to abolish 
the English law of primogeniture, and it is also prob- 
able that the intention was not more clearly expressed 
lest the law might be regarded as repugnant to the 
charter. The laws made many and minute provis- 

^No. 81. 



PURITAN LAWS, LAWYERS AND COURTS. 55 

ions regulatincj^ the domestic relations. The laws as 
to marriage will be noticed in another chapter.^ 

No grounds for divorce were specified in the laws, 
but Cotton Mather enumerates some of the causes 
which would justify the civil magistrates in declaring 
the divorce of married persons, chief among which 
were adulter}^, impotence, and malicious desertion.^ 

To put at rest the question whether it was lawful, 
as it was supposed to be in England, for a man to 
whip his wife with a stick, "if no bigger than his 
little finger," it was expressly provided in the Body 
of Liberties, that "Everie marryed woem.an shall be 
free from bodilie correction or stripes by her husband, 
unlesse it be in his owne defence upon her assalt. If 
there be any just cause of correction, complaint shall 
be made to x\uthoritie assembled in some Court, from 
which onely she shall receive it." 

A great many laws were passed to compel obedi- 
ence of children to their parents, and to provide for 
their religious training. The death penalty was de- 
nounced against children who cursed or smote their 
parents and against rebellious sons, though there is 
no record of the actual infliction of this penalt}'. 

Various provisions also were made in reference to 
servants, and one very humane provision was that 
"Servants that have served deligentlie and faithfully 
to the benefitt of their maisters seaven yeares, shall 
not be sent away emptie." 

It can not be denied that slaver}-, to a limited extent, 
was recognized by law in the jMassachusetts colony, 

»Chap. 5. 

* Magnalia, Vol. 2, p. 253. 



c6 THE PURITAN REPUCLIC. 

as appears b}^ the law quoted in another chapter. But 
no law was ever enacted making slaves of the chil- 
dren of slaves, and the very atmosphere of Massa- 
chusetts was always uncongenial to slavery. 

It would not be practicable to give even a synopsis 
of all the laws in the volumes referred to. A great 
part of these relate to the organization of the gov- 
ernment, and the machiner}^ for carr37ing it on, de- 
fining the powers, duties and fees of officers, the 
organization of courts and procedure therein, the 
assessment and collection of taxes, imposts and 
licenses, elections, the support of the poor, etc. 
Some of them define crimes and punishments. Oth- 
ers relate to property, the laws of descent, adminis- 
trators, executors and guardians, dower, and the 
alienation of real and personal property. Many of 
them, such as those relating to estra3's and tres- 
passing animals, brands, marks, pounds, markets, 
weights and measures, bounties for wolves and deal- 
ing with Indians, are such as are found upon the 
early statute books of all the states, and find ex- 
pression in many of our modern laws. 

Various crimes were punished capitally. Some of 
these have already been mentioned. Others were 
added — arson, burglary (third offense), cursing or 
smiting a parent, denial of the word of God (second 
offense), highway robbery (third offense), return of 
Jesuits and Quakers after banishment, man-stealingy 
rape of a maid or a single woman, rebellion and re- 
belliousness of a son. 

Cutting off the ears was the penalty for burglary 
(first and second offenses), and some other offenses. 



PURITAN LAWS, LAWYERS AND COURTS. 57 

Branding was inflicted for burglary and high- 
wa}^ robbery, and also upon vagabond Quakers and 
rogues. 

Banishment was the penalt}^ for defamation or de- 
nial of the authority of the magistrates, and for 
persistent heresy. It was imposed upon Anabaptists, 
Quakers and Jesuit ecclesiastics. 

Whipping was the penalty for a great number of 
crimes, such as defamation of the magistrates, dis- 
obedience of children, drunkenness, firing woods, 
fornication with a single woman, injurious lying, 
profanation of the Lord's day, rescue of cattle from 
pound, reviling the office or person of magistrate or 
minister, and theft by children or servants, and it 
was also the penalty for the first offense in the case 
of various crimes, the repetition of which was more 
severely punished. 

Putting in the stocks, sometimes called ''bilboes," 
was the penalty visited upon disorderly soldiers, 
drunkards and tipplers, and persons guilty of pro- 
fane cursing and some other misdemeanors. 

Disfranchisement was inflicted upon those guilty of 
defamation of magistrates, fornication and refusal to 
attend public worship. 

Fines were imposed for a great many offenses. 
The profound religious spirit that controlled the law- 
makers is manifest from what has already been said. 
It is still further manifest b}^ the scriptural quotation 
printed on the title page of the revision of 1660: 
"Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power, resisteth 
the Ordinance of God: and they that resist, receive to 
themselves damnation. Rom. 13, 2." While all of 



58 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

these laws are interesting, as indicating the character 
of the times, some of them, which will be noticed 
more fully in other chapters, will attract our special 
attention. 

That these laws were enforced, and very rigidly 
enforced, there is abundant evidence. The Puritans 
did not believe in dead-letter laws. The old colonial 
records abound in entries of convictions for trivial 
offenses, which now would be only lightly punished, 
if punished at all, where the sentence was that the 
culprit should be whipped, or set in the bilboes, or 
stand in the market place with his tongue in a cleft 
stick. 1 

Nor is there an}^ evidence of partiality in the im- 
position of penalties. The records contain numer- 
ous instances of fines imposed upon assistants, dep- 
uties and other officials and prominent citizens. 
Women, as well as men, were sentenced to be 
whipped, or to stand with the tongue in a cleft 
stick for offenses for which such punishments were 
the penalties. In at least one case it seems that the 
authorities leaned rather too strongly against the 
woman, and in favor of the man, for it is recorded 
that : " George Palmer having committed folly with 
Margary Ruggs, through her allurement, because hee 
confessed voluntarily, hee was onely set in the stocks 
and so dismissed. Margary Ruggs, for entising and 
alluring George Palmer was censured to be severely 
whipped." 

Further illustrations of the severity with which the 
laws were enforced are given in other chapters. Nor 

^See Hutchinson, Vol. i, p. 384-5; Hudson's His. Marlborougk, 242, 
244. 



PURITAN LAWS, LAWYERS AND COURTS. 59 

was any partiality shown by reason of rank or 
station. One amongst the first to be punished was 
Sir Richard Saltonstall, who, in 1630, was fined £5 
for whipping two persons when no other assistant 
was present. Endicott, who was then an assistant, 
was provoked into committing an assault and battery 
upon one Dexter ; thereupon the former was tried by 
a iury and fined 40 shiUings.^ 

The laws already referred to (and there were many 
others of the same kind), show that nothing was ex- 
empt from the close supervision of the commonwealth. 
It exercised, even in matters of a purely domestic and 
social character, a surveillance that would not now be 
thought of, much less tolerated. The laws regulating 
apparel, the catechising of children and servants, 
and others of like character, are noted more fully in 
other chapters. So far as they could do so, the mag- 
istrates sought even to invade men's hearts and drag 
out their secret thoughts and pass judgment upon 
them. 

Lynn was settled in 1629. In Lewis's history of 
the town, copious extracts are given from the records 
of the quarterly courts, which are probably fair sam- 
ples of what appears in the records of other towns, 
covering the same periods, and which give us a good 
idea of what conduct was regarded as criminal in 
those days and of the kind of punishments inflicted. 

Roger Scott, in 1643, was presented ^'for common 
sleeping at the public exercise upon the Lord's day, 
and for striking him that waked him," and in De- 
cember following, as he still persisted in going to 

* Palfrey, Vol. i, p. 327. 



V 



6o THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

sleep at meeting, he was sentenced ^' to be severely- 
whipped. " In 1644 William Hewes and John, his 
son, were presented "for deriding such as Sing in 
the Congregation, tearming them fools, also William 
Hewes for saying Mr. Whiting preaches confusedly." 
In 1645 Samuel Bennett was presented " for saying 
in a scornful manner, he neither cared for the Towne, 
nor any order the Towne could make." In 1649 
" Mathew Stanley was tried for winning the affec- 
tions of John Tarbox's daughter without the consent 
of her parents. He was fined £5 with 2s 6d fees. 
The parents of the 3^oung woman were allowed six 
shillings for their attendance three days." In the 
same year Nicholes Pinion was fined for swearing, 

*' all his pumpkins were turned to squashes." 

In 1652, Ester, wife of Joseph Jynkes, was presented 
"for wearing silver lace"; Robert Burgess "for bad 
corn-grinding," and other persons "for wearing great 
boots and silk hoods' ' ; and William Witter was pre- 
sented "for neglecting the public ordinances and be- 
ing rebaptized." In 1667, Nathaniel Kertland, 
John Witt and Ephraim Hall were presented "for 
prophaning the Lords day By Going to William 
Craft's house in time of publike exercise (they both 
being at meeting) and Drinkeing of his sider and 
Rosting his Apples without eyther the consent or 
knowledo:e of him or his wife." 

To enforce the laws required a great number of 
local officials. Mr. Howard has given us a list of 
"the vast number of minor public functionaries" 
employed by the different towns, and says that 
"there seems to have been a restless anxiety in 



PURITAN LAWS, LAWYERS AND COURTS. 6 1 

these little democracies to bring every possible sub- 
ject within the purview of the town meeting or the 
inagistrates chosen by it. There was a minute inter- 
ference with private business ; a degree of official in- 
trusion, which we should now feel intolerable."^ 

Looking over these old laws we must admit that, 
judged by modern ideas, many of them were severe 
and oppressive. But, in justice to the early Puri- 
tans, we should judge them and their laws b}^ the 
light which the}' had, and not by that which two and 
one-half centuries of study and experience have given 
us. Nor should we attribute the harshness of their 
laws altogether to the austerity of their religion. 
Their criminal laws, like most of the criminal laws 
of the other colonies, were substantial re-enactments 
of those of the mothei; countr}', and these we know 
were, many of them, characterized by penalties far 
more frightful and atrocious than the offenses they 
were intended to punish. 

AVhen Blackstone wrote his "Commentaries on the 
Laws of England," nearly a hundred 3'ears after the 
end of the Massachusetts commonwealth, he ac- 
knowledged it as "a melancholy truth that among 
the variety of actions which men are daily liable to 
commit, no less than a hundred and sixty have been 
declared by act of parliament to be felonies without 
benefit of clergy; in other words, to be worthy of in- 
stant death." He adds that so "dreadful a list, 
instead of diminishing, increases the number of of- 
fenders."^ 

^ Local Constitutional History of the United States, Chapter on 
'*'^ Rise of the New England Town" pp. 96-99. 
* Cotnmentaries, Vol. 4, p. 18. 



62 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

Hangings, burning people in the hand, cropping 
their ears, slitting their tongues were so common that 
standing in the pillory and whipping were regarded 
as mild punishments. 

Not the slightest conception of the reformation of 
the offender then entered into the minds of the law- 
makers anywhere, and the ruling idea of most of the 
penal laws was to wreak society's vengeance upon 
thecriminaland,if he was a little worse than common, 
that it was "easier to extirpate than to amend" him. 

The graphic picture-which Dickens gives in the "Tale 
of Two Cities," of crimes and criminals in England in 
1775, is not overdrawn. " In the midst of these the 
hangman, ever busy and ever worse than useless, 
was in constant requisition ; now stringing up long 
rows of miscellaneous criminals ; now hanging a 
housebreaker on Saturday who had been talcen on 
Tuesday ; now burning people in the hand at New- 
gate by the dozen, and now burning pamphlets at 
the door of Westminster Hall ; to-day taking the life 
of an atrocious murderer, and to-morrow of a wretch- 
ed pilferer who had robbed a farmer's boy of six- 
pence." 

In Dillon's "Oddities of Colonial Legislation" 
there is an extensive collection of some of the harsh- 
est of the penal laws of England and the American 
colonies. A very cursory examination of them will 
show that the early criminal laws of Massachusetts 
were neither much better nor much worse than were 
those of the other colonies. 

Much censure and ridicule has been heaped upon 
the Puritans because of their belief in, and their laws 



PURITAN LAWS, LAWYERS AND COURTS. 6;^ 

against, witchcraft, but we have onfy to consult the 
encyclopedias to find that belief in witchcraft is a 
dreadful delusion which, from time to time, has pre- 
vailed all over the world, civilized as well as uncivil- 
ized, and has led to frightful sacrifice of human life. 
Even Sir William Blackstone in his Commentaries 
acknowledges his belief in it.^ The English statute 
against witchcraft, passed during the reign of James I, 
was substantially re-enacted in Virginia, Maryland, 
Delaware, South Carolina, Penns3'lvania and the 
other American colonies, as well as in Massachusetts. 
The Pennsylvania statute continued in force until 
1794.2 

But this much must be said of the Body of Liber- 
ties : That it affirms all the cardinal principles of 
Magna Charta and the common law of England for 
the protection of the liberty of the citizen and the 
rights of property, the most of which have been copied 
into our national and state constitutions. 

Lechford, in "Newes from New England," writ- 
ten in 1641, has given us an account of the courts in 
the early period of the commonwealth, which, as he 
was himself a lawyer, may be depended upon as be- 
ing accurate. He says :^ 

"There are two generall Courts, one every halfe yeare, 
wherein they make Lawes or Ordinances. The Ministers 
advise in making of Laws, some especially Ecclesiasticall, 
and are present in Courts, and advise in somespeciall causes 
criminall, and in framing of Fundamentall Lawes. But not 
many Fundamentall Lawes are yet established, which when 

^ Vol. 4, p. 60. 

* Dillon's Oddities of Colonial Legislation, p. 32. 

•Mass. His. Coll., 3d Ser., Vol. 3, p. 83. 



64 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

they doe, they must, by the words of their Charter, make 
according to the Laws of England, or not contrary there- 
unto. Here they make taxes and levies. There are besides 
foure quarter Courts for the whole Jurisdiction, besides other 
petie Courts, one every quarter at Boston, Salem, and 
Ipswich, with their severall jurisdictions, besides every 
towne, almost, hath a petie Court for small debts and tress- 
passes under twenty shillings. 

In the generall Court, or great quarter Courts, before the 
Civill Magistrates, are tryed all actions and causes civill and 
criminall, and also Ecclesiasticall, especially touching non- 
members. And they themselves say that in the generall 
and quarter Courts, they have the power of Parliament, 
Kings Bench, Common Pleas, Chancery, High Commission, 
and Star Chamber, and all other Courts of England, and in 
divers cases have exercised that power upon the Kings Sub- 
jects there, as is not difficult to prove. They have put to 
death, banished, fined men, cut off mens eares, whipt, im- 
prisoned men, and all these for Ecclesiasticall and Civill 
offences and without sufficient record. In the lesser quarter 
Courts are tryed, in some, actions under ten pound, in 
Boston, under twenty, and all criminall causes not touching 
life or member. From the petie quarter Courts, or other 
Court, the parties may appeale to the great quarter Courts, 
from these to the generall Court, from which there is no ap- 
peale, they say. Notwithstanding, I presume their Patent 
doth reserve and provide for Appeales in some cases, to the 
Kings Majesty." 

The assistants, usually styled magistrates, pre- 
sided over the courts in the counties where they re- 
sided, and justices of the peace and commissioners 
of small causes were, from time to time, appointed 
by the General Court to hold local courts for the trial 



PUmXAN LAWS, LAWYERS AND COURTS. 65 

of petty cases. Marshals and constables were ap- 
pointed to serve the processes of the various courts. 

In the quarter courts grand juries were sworn 
twice a year, "charged to enquire and present of- 
fenses reduced by the Governor, who gives the 
Charge, most an-end, under the Heads of the ten 
commandments "; "matters of debt, tresspasse, and 
upon the case, and equity, yea and of heresie also, 
are tryed b}^ a jur}-."^ 

The forms of judicial proceedings were simple, 
and not much attention was paid to the troublesome 
distinctions which prevailed in England between the 
forms of actions. Until 1662 the writs did not even 
bear the king's name. 

There was this curious provision in relation to 
jurors, which was probably intended, as lawyers 
were not permitted either to enlighten or to befog 
them, to enable them to consult the "minister": 
" Whenever any Jurie of trialls or jurours are not 
cleare in their judgments or consciences conserning 
any cause wherein they are to give their verdict, they 
shall have libertie in open court to advise with an}'' 
man they thinke fitt to resolve or direct them, before 
they give in their verdict." 

Lechford complained that " seldome is there any 
matter of record, saving the verdict, many times at 
randome taken and entered, which is also called the 
judgment. And, for want of proceeding duly en- 
tered upon record, the government is clearely arbi- 
trar}^, according to the discretions of the Judges and 
Magistrates for the time being." 

^ Lechford. 

Pur. Rep. — ; 



66 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

But this evil was remedied in 1639 by an order 
made reciting the evils consequent upon the rendi- 
tion of judgments '' whereof no records are kept of 
the evidence & reasons whereupon the verdict & 
judgment did passe," and providing "that thence- 
forward every judgment, with all the evidence, bee 
recorded in a booke to be kept to posterity."^ 

At the beginning of the commonwealth there v/ere 
not a great many law books even in England. What 
there were are mentioned by Chancellor Kent in his 
Commentaries.^ Most of these were written in a dia- 
lect unintelligible to most persons except judges and 
lawyers. In 1647 the General Court made this pro- 
vision; " It is agreed by the Court, to the end we may 
have the better light for making and proceeding 
about laws, that there shall be these books following 
procured for the use of the Court from time to time: 
Two of Sir Edw. Cooke upon Littleton; two of the 
book of Entryes; two of Sir Edw. Cooke upon 
Magna Charta; two of the New Terms of Law; 
two Daltons Justice of Peace; two of Sir Edwd. 
Cooke's Reports." 

But limited as was the supply of law books, the 
supply of lawyers was still more limited. The sup- 
ply, however, exceeded the demand. It is not meant 
by this that the colonists were all destitute of legal 
learning. There were several who had received a 
legal education in England; and that there were some 

1 Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 275. Prof. Emory Washburn, a writer of ac- 
knowledged authority, has fully explained the organization, jurisdiction 
and procedure of the courts of the commonwealth in the Judicia? His- 
tory of Massachusetts. 

'Lectures, 12 and 22. 



PURITAN LAWS, LAWYERS AND COURTS. 67 

among the colonists who understood the cardinal 
principles of English law is evident from the Bod}' 
of Liberties. Ward, who is said to have compiled 
them, graduated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 
1603, and studied and practiced law in England, and 
we have no reason to doubt his statement in the 
*' Simple Cobbler" that he had " read almost all the 
Common Law of England and some Statutes." But 
it is certain that in the days of the Puritan common- 
wealth the professional law3'er was almost, if not 
quite, ignored in the administration of the govern- 
ment. Prof. Washburn says that '' it was many 
years after the settlement of the colony before any- 
thing like a distinct class of Attorneys at Law were 
known. And it Is doubtful if there were any regu- 
larly educated Attorneys who practiced in the courts 
of the colony at any time during its existence."^ 
Palfrey states that so late as the time of the witch- 
craft trials, a few years after the expiration of the 
commonwealth, " there were no trained lawyers in 
the Province." 

That the profession had become almost extinct 
during the commonwealth period appears from a let- 
ter written by Edward Randolph to Mr. Pove}^ in 
1687, wherein he says: "I have wrote you of the 
want we have of two or three honest attorneys (if any 
such thing in nature). We have but two, one is 
West's creature, come with him from New York, and 
drives all before him. Pie also takes extravagant fees, 
and for want of more, the country' can not avoid com- 

^ Judicial History of Mass., p. 50. 



68 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

ing to him, so that we had better be quite without 
them than not to have more."^ 

The drawing of wills, deeds, and other legal writ- 
ings was usually done by the justices and ministers. 
The practice of the ministers doing such work was. 
continued far into the eighteenth century. The Rev. 
John Swift of Framingham, who was ordained there 
in 1 701 and died in 1745, seems to have written most 
of the wills of the inhabitants there during that 
period.^ 

A litigant, *' finding himselfe unfit to plead his 
owne cause in any Court," had liberty "to imploy 
any man against whom the Court doth not except, to 
help him, provided he give him noe fee or reward for 
his paines." We might infer that this was simply a 
re-enactment of the old English law which forbade 
counsel receiving a fee, leaving him to such gratuity 
as the client might choose to give him, and that this 
was all the disabilit}^ under which the lawyer labored. 
But this was not all. The lawyers were never in 
favor with the persons in authority in the common- 
wealth. Two of the men who had early raised dis- 
turbances in the infant commonwealth — Samuel 
Browne and Thomas Morton — had been lawyers in 
England. Morton of "Merry Mount" had, it is 
said, been a " pettifogger at Furnival's Inn." Gov. 
Bellingham had also been a lawyer, but he was not a 
popular governor. Winthrop, like his father and 
grandfather, had been trained in England as a lawyer, 
but Winthrop rose superior to any prejudice on this 

^ Washburn, Judicial His. Mass., p. 104. 
* Barry's History Fratnitiffham, p. 86. 



PURITAN LAWS, LAWYERS AND COURTS. 69 

account as he did to all others. Jesus himself had 
denounced the lawyers. "Woe unto you also ye 
law3''ers ; for ye lade men with burdens grievous to 
be borne and ye yourselves touch not the burdens 
with one of 3^our fingers." And, though this was 
said more than sixteen hundred years before, what 
evidence was there that the lawyers had reformed 
their wicked wa37S ? 

In 1663 a law was enacted by the General Court 
wherein it was expressly provided "that no person 
who is an usual and Common Attorney in an^' In- 
ferior Court shall be admitted to sit as a Deputy in 
this Court." 

When parties had not the ability to prosecute or 
to defend their suits it was allowable to gret some 
one to represent them, and the "patrons," as the 
persons chosen were sometimes called, acted as at- 
torneys. Amongst those who so acted in the com- 
monwealth period Prof. Washburn mentions John 
Coggan, Watson and Checkly, who were merchants, 
Amos Richardson, a tailor, and Bullivant, a physi- 
cian and apothecar}'. 

There was, however, 07w lawyer, who made his 
mark as such in the history of the commonwealth, 
because, for a period of about four j^ears, as Prof. 
Washburn happily puts it, "he flourished as the 
whole profession — the embodied bar of Massachusetts 
Bay." Thomas Lechfordcame to Boston in 1637, and 
tried to make a living by practicing law, but he got 
into trouble by "going to the jury and pleading with 
them Old of court.,'''' and he was therefore sentenced 
by the General Court to be "disbarred from pleading 



70 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

any mans cause hereafter, unlesse his owne, & ad- 
monished not to presume to meddle beyond that hee 
shall be called to by the Courte." Afterwards we 
read that "Mr. Thomas Lechford, acknowledging 
hee had overshot himself & is sorry for it, promissing 
to attend his calling & not to meddle with contro- 
versies, was dismissed." But according to Mr. 
Scudder,* the magistrates made it uncomfortable for 
him ; he was regarded with suspicion and was soon 
"snuffed out" and left the colony. He returned to 
England in 1641, and in 1642 he published a pam- 
phlet entitled "Plain Dealing or Newes from New 
England," in which he had the satisfaction of ex- 
pressing his opinions of the Massachusetts authorities 
without fear of fine or "bilboes." 

As a matter of course, where there were no trained 
law3^ers, we should not expect to find judges learned 
in the law. Few of the men who sat in the General 
Court or in the inferior courts had any legal educa- 
tion ; all consulted the ministers on doubtful ques- 
tions. The Bible rule, if one could be found, was 
always to be followed. A few of the assistants, as 
has been stated, had been educated as lawyers. But 
Prof. Washburn^ says that "if the}^ made use of their 
legal acquirements, it was in aid of the great object 
which they had so much at heart — the establishment 
of a religious commonwealth in which the laws of 
Moses were much more regarded as precedents than 
the decisions of Westminster Hall, or the pages of 

"^ Life in Boston in the Colonial Period, Mem. His. of Boston, Vol. i, 
P- 503- 

* Judicial History of Mass., p. 50. 



PURITAN LAWS, LAWYERS AND COURTS. 7 1 

the few elementary writers upon the common law 
which were then cited in the English courts." 

Of the seven judges who presided at the witchcraft 
trials, Palfrey states that "Stoughton and Sewall had 
been educated for the pulpit ', two of their five asso- 
ciates were physicians; one was a merchant; not one 
was a lawyer." 

One of the judges who went upon the bench short- 
ly before the expiration of the commonwealth period, 
and whose name has come down to us, was Samuel 
Sewall, afterwards chief justice of Massachusetts. 
Palfrey speaks of him as a man of " timid conscien- 
tiousness," under the sway of Stoughton in the witch- 
craft trials, but a "mxuch respected" man. 

He was a graduate of Har\^ard, and had been 
educated for the ministry, but had not received a 
legal education. Nevertheless, he endeavored after- 
wards to make up for his lack of legal education, 
for in his '' Letter-Book"! we find a letter writ- 
ten by him in 1704 to Mr. Thomas Newton, 
directing him to buy for him in London "all the 
statutes at large made since Mr. Keebles edition 
(Kebles Statutes) 1684. Let them be well Bound 
in one or two Covers as shall be most convenient. 
The Register (Registrum de Cancellaria) , Cromp- 
ton (Jurisdiction of divers Courts) , Bracton Britton, 
Fleta, Mirror (Horn's Miroir des Justices); as many 
of them as you can get in Latin or English; Heaths 
Pleadings, Sir Edward Cokes Reports." 

That he was an upright and conscientious judge, 
there is no doubt. In a few instances wherein lie 

^Letters, Mass. Mis. Coll., 6th Ser., Vol. i, p. 310. 



^2 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

had erred, or thought that he had erred, in the dis- 
charge of his judicial duties, he was very much 
grieved when he afterwards became satisfied that 
injustice had been done. This was so in the case of 
the widow Belhngham, and notably so in relation to 
the witchcraft trials, for after he became satisfied that 
the belief in witches was a miserable delusion he 
inade a public acknowledgment in the church of his 
sorrow for the part that he had taken in these trials. 
When Justice Davenport, in 17 19, was going to 
try Samuel Smith, of Sandwich, for killing his 
negro, Judge Sewall wrote him a letter containing 
''these Quotations and my own Sentiments," which 
were that: 

" The poorest Boys and Girls within this Province, such 
as are of the lowest condition; whether they be English or 
Indians or Ethiopians. They have the same Right to Re- 
ligion and Life, that the Richest Heirs have. 

" And they who go about to deprive them of this Right, 
they attempt the bombarding of Heaven; and the Shells 
they throw will fall down upon their own heads."* 

He was an earnest opponent of slavery, and his 
pamphlet on " The Selling of Joseph " was the begin- 
ning of the movement which resulted in the abolition 
of negro slavery in Massachusetts. 

We can, therefore, well afford to overlook some 
lack of legal learning in a judge of that period who 
had so many good qualities. 

It is not, however, as a jurist that Judge Sewall is 
best known to those of the present day. He kept a 
diary. It is difficult to account for that mental 

"^Letters, Mass. His. Coll., 6th Ser., Vol. 2, p. loi. 



PURITAN LAWS, LAWYERS AND COURTS. 73 

idiosjmcrasy which prompts a man to keep a diary 
of his daily actions and thoughts, and leave it for 
other people to pry into long after he is dead and 
gone. It is still more difficult to understand why his 
descendants should permit such a diary to be pub- 
lished. Nevertheless, we are under lasting obliga- 
tions to the descendants of Judge Sewall for permit- 
ting his diary and also his letters to be published, 
and to the Massachusetts Historical Society for publish- 
ing them. In the three volumes of "Sewall Papers," 
containing the diary, and the two containing the 
letters, we have records of great historic value. ^ 

In them the judge has given us not only a record 
of many public events, but also a record of the cus- 
toms and habits and fashions of the times. More 
than this, he has given us the minutest details of his 
own life and has laid bare his innermost thoughts. 
We see in these volumes the man, just as he was, 
with all his faults, his motives, his aspirations, and in 
the pages written after the death of his first wife, and 
especially in those which record his subsequent court- 
ships, the foibles of an old man. But we see, also, 
the picture of an honest and thoroughly conscientious 
man, and, if we smile at or censure some things we 
find in his character, we must admit that other peo- 
ple might smile at or censure us if we were to give to 
the world as truthful a record of our own lives and 
thoughts as Judge Sewall has given of his. 

^ The diary covers a period beginning in 1674 ^"'^ ending in 1729, and 
is reprinted in three volumes, entitled Sewall Papers ; the letters begin 
in 1685 and end in 1734, and are reprinted in two volumes, entitled 
Sezva/Ps Letter-Book. The diary is contained in volumes 5, 6 and 7 
(5th Series), and the letters in volumes i and 2 (6th Ser'es) of the 
Massachusetts Historical Collections. 



74 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

In view of the almost total lack of lawyers and 
judges skilled in the learning of the legal profession, 
it is not surprising that during the whole of the com- 
monwealth period, there was little or no development 
of the law as a science, or of the character of the judi- 
ciary. Some of the consequent evils speedily became 
manifest. Litigation was cheap and thus encouraged 
the bringing of many trifling suits. 

The suitors usually knew but little law; their at- 
torneys knew but little more, and the judges knew 
but little more than the attorneys, and so much time 
was wasted "by reason of the many and tedious 
discourses and pleadings in Court, both of plaintiff 
and defendant, as also the readiness of many to pros- 
ecute suits in law for small matters," that in order to 
discourage this, a law was passed in 1656, imposing 
a penalty of twenty shillings an hour upon every liti- 
gant who should plead '' by himself or his Attorney 
for a longer time than one hozir.'''' 

Another evil was that, for want of law3^ers prop- 
erly to present their cases in court, it became cus- 
tomary for suitors to consult the magistrates pri- 
vately and so get a favorable opinion upon ex ^arte 
statements made out of court, and this evil grew to 
such proportions that it was at last prohibited by law, 
although some of the magistrates themselves made 
strenuous opposition to the passage of the law.^ 

Besides these and other obvious evil consequences 
resulting from the absence of lawyers and judges 
skilled in their profession, there is one that should 
not be overlooked, especially in estimating the influ- 

* Winthrop, Vol. 2, p. 36; Mass. Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 141. 



PURITAN LAWS, LAWYERS AND COURTS. 75 

ence of the clergy in the colonial period, and that is 
the lack of the conservative influence of the legal 
profession. 

Of late 3^ears the influence of the lawyer in politics 
and in legislation has yielded to that of the profes- 
sional politician and waned before the glaring splen- 
dor of the millionaire. In some periods, particular- 
ly in times of great financial distress, opposition has 
been manifested to lawyers. But as a general rule, 
from a period long before the Revolution, the law- 
3^ers have exercised a great influence in both the na- 
tional and state governments of this country. And 
that influence has always been enlisted on the side of 
conservatism, and generally on the side of the car- 
dinal principles of constitutional government. This 
is the tendency of a thorough legal education. Pal- 
frey says^ that "though not seldom biased, and some- 
times even corrupted, by power, the instincts of legal 
science have always been among the main safeguards 
of the liberties of the English race." 

Bryce in his "American Commonwealth" thinks 
the American lawyers are even more conservative than 
their English brethren.^ De Tocqueville^ pays this 
high compliment to the lawyers as a class : 

" The more we reflect upon all that occurs in the United 
States the more shall we be persuaded that the lawyers, as a 
body, form the most powerful, if not the only counterpoise 
to the democratic element. In that country we perceive 
how eminently the legal profession is qualified by its pow- 

* Vol I, p. 249. 

' Vol. 2, chapter on " The Bar." 
Democracy in America, Vol. i, Chap. 16. 



^6 THE PURIT.VX Ll'ZTZT.lZC. 

ers, and even by its defects, to neutralize the vices which 
are inherent in popular government. When the American 
people is intoxicated by passion, or carried away by the 
impetuosity of its ideas, it is checked and stopped by the 
almost invisible influence of its legal counsellors, who se- 
cretly oppose their aristocratic propensities to its democratic 
instincts, their superstitious attachment to what is antique to 
its love of novelty, their narrow views to its immense de- 
signs, and their habitual procrastination to its ardent im- 
patience." 

It would have been better for the authorities of the 
commonwealth if they had heeded the advice of 
Lechford : 

" I feare," he said, "it is not a little degree of pride and 
dangerous improvidence to slight all former lawes of the 
Church or State, cases of experience and precedents, to go 
to hammer out new, according to the Severall exigencies, 
upon pretence that the Word of God is sufficient to rule us. 
It is true, it is sufficient, if well understood. But take 
heede my brethren, despise not learning, nor the worthy 
Lawyers of either gown, lest you repent too late." 



IV 

THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS 

Some 3^ears before the coming of Winthrop and 
his companions there had been a great plague, which 
swept off large numbers of the native population 
then inhabiting the domain covered by the patent of 
the Massachusetts Company. But there were still 
left those who claimed a right to the soil. 

Just what kind of right this was it is difficult to de- 
line according to any well-settled rule of law or 
ethics. Nothing bearing the semblance of an organ- 
ized STOvernment existed. The boundaries between 
the different tribes were unknown or disputed. Only 
small tracts of land were occupied by the natives. 
The great body of the territory was occupied only 
occasionally, and then only while it was being trav- 
ersed by hunting parties. It is difficult, upon such 
foundations, to prove that the natives had such a title 
as justified them in claiming the absolute ownership 
of a continent. 

Still, as shown in the preceding chapter, their 
right or title, whatever it was, was recognized by a 
law passed by the General Court in 1652. The same 
law protected the Indians from unlawful intrusion 
upon their planting grounds, or fishing places, and 
prohibited the buying of lands from them, unless the 
purchases were authorized by license secured from 
the General Court. 

(77) 



78 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

The uncontrollable appetite of the Indians for in- 
toxicating liquor was early manifest, and stringent 
laws were enacted to prevent the sale of intoxicants 
to them.-^ 

All efforts to induce them to adopt the methods of 
civilized life were unavailing at that time, as they have 
been since. Something in their nature made them 
prefer the freedom of the forest to the restraints and 
burdens of civilized life. 

Earnest efforts were made to convert them to 
Christianity, but with little success, and the '"Pray- 
ing Indians," as they were called, seem to have been 
on occasion as zealous as their barbarian brethren in 
scalping their white neighbors. The Apostle Eliot 
had labored with such success among the Indians 
that several towns of "Praying Indians," number- 
ing some 1,200, were established near Framingham, 
including the Naticks, one of whose chief men was 
Aponapawquin, commonly known as "Old Jacob." 
Of him it is U'arrated that he was " amongst the first 
that prayed to God," and that " he had so good a 
memory that he could rehearse the whole catechism, 
both questions and answers."^ Nevertheless one of 
the first acts of barbarity that signalized the breaking 
out of King Philip's war was the destruction of the 
house of Thomas Eames, situate within the bounda- 
ries of the Framingham Plantation, the murder of his 
wife and three or four of his children, and the carr37ing 
of the rest away into captivity, and one of the partici- 
pants in this bloody massacre was the pious " Old 

^ Col. Laws, 1660-1672, pp. 161-236. 

2 Barry's Hist. Framingham, 17; Mass. Hist. Col., ist Ser., Vol. 9, p. 
398; 5 Id. 264. 



THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS. 79 

Jacob." Indeed all that we can learn about the 
^' Pra3'ing Indians " seems to corroborate Sheldon's 
assertion, that in King Philip's war "these pious 
lambs proved the worst wolves of the whole bloody 
crew."^ 

It could scarcely be expected that two races, differ- 
ing so radically in so many wa3^s, could live peace- 
ably for any great length of time in the same land. 
Nor is it of much importance now to determine what 
were the precise causes of the bloody conflict which 
afterward ensued, and to apportion the blame. The 
conflict was as inevitable and as irrepressible as 
that between freedom and slavery on this continent. 

It was very soon manifest that the Indians looked 
with unkindly eyes on the increase of their white 
neighbors, and were plotting their extermination. 
Trouble soon began with the Pequots, the most power- 
ful of the tribes then inhabiting the territory within 
the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Company. Their 
chief, Sassacus, endeavored to form an alliance with 
their ancient enemies, the Narragansetts, in order to 
drive from the land those whom he denominated the 
foes of all of them, and who would, he argued with 
savage foresight, unless exterminated, in time ex- 
terminate them. 

The situation of the colonists was precarious. Only 
their possession and knowledge of the use of fire- 
arms enabled them to hold their own against the 
vastly superior numbers of the Indians. And even 
this advantage would have proved unavailing if the 
Indians had then formed the coalition which Philip 

^ Hist. Deerfield, Vol. i, p. 140. 



8o THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

effected in later years. But the Narragansetts 
hesitated between the arguments of Sassacus and 
their hatred of their ancient foes. Roger Williams 
visited them and added his efforts to induce them to 
side with the colonists, and at last the Narragansetts 
entered into an alliance with the latter. Still the 
Narragansetts were a doubtful quantity. They did 
not love their white neighbors and they feared the 
Pequots. A defeat of the colonists, or any wavering 
on their part at this juncture, would have been fatal. 
In such a contingency the Narragansetts, if they had 
not deserted to the side of the Pequots, would have 
been awed by them into neutrality. It was necessary, 
therefore, for the colonists to meet the emergency 
promptly and boldly, and this they did. In 1637 
Capt. Stoughton took the field with 160 men from 
Massachusetts, Capt. Mason commanding the Con- 
necticut forces, who were joined by some 200 of the 
Narragansetts ; but the latter were so terrified by the 
name of Sassacus that half of them deserted. 

The war was short and decisive. Mason and 
Stoughton boldly attacked the Indians in their strong- 
holds, routed them, and almost annihilated them. 
Sassacus fled, and it is supposed that he was mur- 
dered by the Mohawks or became a member of that 
tribe. Some of the survivors of the Pequots v/ere 
sold as slaves in the Bermudas, some were mingled 
with other Indian tribes, and the identity of the rem- 
nant was forever lost. 

Much denunciation has been heaped upon the Pu- 
ritans for what has been termed their cruel slaughter 
of the Pequots, and Oliver attempts to show how all 



THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS. Si 

the colonial leaders In the Pequot war afterwards suf- 
fered from Divine vengeance for the part they took 
in it. 

We all agree that there is not much humanity in 
war, but it is generally conceded that, when it has 
actually begun, the speediest way to restore peace is 
to make the war as destructive to the enemy as pos- 
sible. No hostile army was ever vanquished, no in- 
surrection was ever suppressed, b}^ firing paper wads. 

The alternative presented to the colonists in the 
Pequot war was whether they should exterminate 
the Pequots or allow the Pequots to exterminate them, 
and the colonists chose the former course. What 
the result would have been if Sassacus had succeeded 
in his scheme to unite the Indians is confessed by Ol- 
iver,* apparently with a tinge of disappointment. 

"An aboriginal coalition," he says, " first suggested by 
the Pequot chief, and afterwards carried into such terrible 
effect by King Philip, at this early period might have re- 
sulted in the extermination of the English; and some soli- 
tary ship, afterwards touching at Massachusetts Bay, would 
have beheld the stillness of the wilderness where was ex- 
pected the busy hum of life, and have carried home the 
startling news that transatlantic Puritanism had disap- 
peared." 

The boldness and promptness of the colonists had 
a salutary effect upon the rest of the Indians who, 
as Hutchinson says,^ were " thereby brought to be 
more afraid of the English and restrained from open 
hostilities near forty years together." 

^Puritan Common-Jjcalth,^. liS. 
*Vol. I, p. So. 

Pur. Rep.— 6 



82 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

But, though the Indians were not openly so, it was 
certain that they were hostile, and only awaited a 
favorable opportunity to begin their savage warfare. 
There were troubles and imminent danger of war 
with the Narragansetts and then with the Nyantics. 
Events were moving steadily along toward a re- 
newal of the irrepressible conflict with the certainty 
of fate. Treaties had been made and signed by 
those who, as the Indians claimed, had no authority 
to make and sign them, ceding away vast tracts of 
land. The treaties which the Indians admitted to 
have been properly made and signed they saw inter- 
preted by the white settlers to mean what it is cer- 
tain the Indians who signed them never intended. 
Under these treaties jurisdiction was claimed, not 
only of the territories ceded, but of the Indians in- 
habiting them. New towns were every vv^here being 
established, new grounds cleared and cultivated, and 
the whites, at first only a little handful, who were 
given shelter in the native wilds, were every day 
growing in number, and were every day exercising 
authority in a way most galling to Indian pride. The 
danger to the Indians of ultimate extermination, 
which Sassacus had predicted, was now plainly obvi- 
ous to the savage mind and was no longer remote. 

On the other hand, the colonists claimed that they 
had bought of the English government and the Eng- 
lish proprietors all the title they had, and that they 
had bought of the Indians all the title they had; that 
they had not paid much but that they had paid all the 
land was worth, and that nearly all its value was that 
which had been given to it by two generations of 



THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS. 83 

Puritan industry. If their laws imposed severe re- 
straints upon the Indians in their jurisdiction, the col- 
onists claimed that these laws were enforced against 
the whites as rigorously as they were against the 
Indians, and that, unless they were so enforced 
ao-ainst all alike, law and order could not be main- 
tained. So far as any religious considerations en- 
tered into the question they only confirmed the colo- 
nists in the righteousness of their cause. They drew 
their inspiration largely from the Old Testament, and 
it was not diflficult for them to persuade themselves 
that they were the Lord's chosen people and that the 
heathen savages were the Amorites who were to be 
driven out of the land whenever they stood in the 
way. 

To abandon all for which they had labored for 
over forty years and go back to England was not 
thought of. If it had been thought of it would have 
occuiTed to them that probably they would be as un- 
welcome to the rulers of England as they were to the 
savages in America. Indeed the probable dangers 
of Indian war wxre far preferable to another period 
of Star Chamber and High Commission persecution, 
such as the Puritans had suffered in England. 

The Indians were now far better prepared to fight 
for what they conceived to be their rights than they 
w^ere in the time of the Pequot war. Though their 
numbers had not largely increased, they still far out- 
numbered the whites. In the years that had elapsed 
since the Pequot war, many of the Indians had ac- 
quired firearms and had learned how to use them, and 



84 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

were far better able to cope with the whites in war 
than they were in the time of Sassacus. 

Meantime a leader had appeared. King Philip, at 
least, has left a name in the history of New England 
that never will be forgotten, although he has had no 
historian like the one who has given us the fascinat- 
ing story of Pontiac. Indeed the historians of Mas- 1 
sachusetts have done scant justice to King Philip's 
courage, energy and sagacity. They tell us that he 
was never recognized by the Indians as a leader, nor 
allowed to exercise any authority over them; that he 
was not inspired by anything like patriotic devotion 
to his race; that, though he incited others to battle, 
it is not certainly known that he himself ever took 
part in any; and that he was utterly destitute of all 
noble or heroic qualities that might be implied from 
the name which the colonists themselves had given 
him. 

"The title of king," says Palfrey, "which it has 
been customary to attach to his name, disguises and 
transfigures to the view the form of a squalid savage, 
whose palace was a sty, whose royal robe was a bear 
skin or a coarse blanket, alive with vermin; who 
hardly knew the luxury of an ablution; who was often 
glad to appease appetite with food such as men who? 
are not starving loathe; and whose nature possessed! 
just the capacity for reflection and the degree of re- 
finement which might be expected to be developed 
from the mental constitution of his race by such a 
condition and such habits of life."^ 

Sheldon agrees substantially with Palfrey in the 

»Vol. 3, p. 223. 



THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS. 8:^ 

latter's estimate of Philip, but finds in Canonchet the 
missing Indian hero who, according to Palfrey's way of 
thinking, never existed except in the Leather Stocking 
novels. "Thus fell a man," he says, commenting 
on his death, "who should be ranked first of all New 
England Indians in the qualities which go to make 
up a patriot, nobleman, and warrior."^ And Mr. 
Fiske goes further and throws out a suggestion, that 
Canonchet, and not Philip, was the real master 
spirit of the war which bears the latter's name.^ 

Great deference is justly due to these eminent his- 
torians, but it is not easy to accept their estimate of 
Philip. That he was, like most of his race, vain, 
proud, cruel, and treacherous, it is easy to believe. 
It is not so easy, with all the evidence we have, to 
believe that he was so insignificant a figure in the 
bloody conflict which he precipitated, as we might be 
led to infer from the statements of the Massachusetts 
historians. 

There must have been some powerful master spirit 
to unite in so extensive a coalition tribes widely sep- 
arated and between some of whom there had before 
existed bitter and long-standing feuds. To have ac- 
complished this must have required the presenting of 
arguments skillfully devised to reach the wary and 
suspicious minds of the savages to whom the}' were 
addressed. And to do this must have required inces- 
sant journeys over long distances and through vast 
wildernesses. A still more difficult task was to pro- 
vide those who were expected to take part in the 

^ Ilisf. Dcerfield, Vol. i, p. 146. 

* Beginnings of New Eng., p. 222, note i. 



86 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

conflict with arms and ammunition. An equally dif- 
ficult task was to carry on all these preparations and 
at the same time to conceal them from the colonists. 

Unquestionably this master spirit was Philip. That 
was the judgment of those who were living at the 
time. They called the war by his name. They 
rejoiced more over his death than they did over the 
death of all other Indian chiefs. And for many years 
afterwards it was the name of the chief of Pokonoket 
which inspired the most terror in the stories, that were 
told to the children gathered around the firesides, of 
the horrid butcheries which their fathers witnessed or 
in which they had fallen. 

Philip was a son of Massasoit, chief sachem of the 
Wampanoags, who had been the friend and ally of 
the Plymouth colonists. After the death of his 
father and elder brother, Philip became chief of the 
tribe. His headquarters were at INIount Hope, near 
the present site of Bristol in Rhode Island. The 
tribe was a small one, numbering but a few hundred 
warriors. If he had been the great chieftain of a 
powerful tribe, like the Narragansetts, it would be 
easy to account for his influence, but that the petty 
sachem of so insignificant a handful of followers could 
have exercised the influence, which he undoubtedly 
did, over tribes far more numerous and more power- 
ful, demonstrates that Philip's abilities were of a far 
higher order than he has been credited with possessing 
by some of the Massachusetts historians. 

There is little doubt that, from the time of his ac- 
cession to the chieftaincy of his tribe, Philip was en- 
gaged in plotting a general confederation of all the 



THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS. 87 

Indians, far and near, for the purpose of exterminat- 
ing the colonists. He pursued his object with untir- 
ing energy; now traversing the wilderness and win- 
ning over one tribe after another; now holding 
meetings with the colonists and assuring them of his 
peaceful intentions and the sincerity of his professed 
friendship; but all the time steadily and stealthily 
perfecting the plot which was the object of his life 
and of which he never lost sight. 

But, however and b}^ whomsoever the coalition was 
planned, there is no doubt that it was by far the most 
extensive and powerful that had so far been organ- 
ized. By the end of 1674 one tribe after another 
had been brought into the confederation, and most of 
the "Praying Indians" had been seduced from their 
allegiance to the colonists. 

It is needless to enter into any minute examination 
of the immediate causes which led to the final out- 
break. In the nature of things it was inevitable, 
sooner or later, and was certain to be precipitated, 
if not by one thing, then by something else. Mat- 
ters had now come to such a pass that the contest 
between the savage and the Anglo-Saxon in New 
England could no longer be avoided or postponed. 

It was the intention of Philip to have everything 
in readiness for a simultaneous uprising and begin- 
ning of hostilities by the spring of 1676. The dis- 
covery of his scheme, and the danger that he himself 
might be apprehended and executed, brought on the 
conflict sooner than had been intended, and in 1675 
all disguise was thrown off and the bloody war was 
begun by the slaughter of some of the settlers at 



88 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

Swanzey on June 24, 1675, and almost instanta- 
neously all of the frontier towns were in flames, set- 
tlements were broken up, houses and barns were 
burned, families were murdered, and everywhere 
the work of death and destruction was inaugurated 
and carried on with a savage boldness and ferocity 
that for a time seemed to be irresistible. 

In a short time the Indians had annihilated sev- 
eral of the frontier towns and partly destroyed many 
more, had murdered and taken captive many of the 
inhabitants, and at one time had advanced within 
eighteen miles of Boston. This was by far the most 
critical period in the history of the commonwealth. 
But the colonists met the savage onset promptly, and 
with that undaunted Puritan courage in the record of 
which there is no break from Marston Moor to 
Bunker Hill, They at once took the field, faced 
their savage foes, and attacked them in their strong- 
holds. As the war progressed it assumed a san- 
guinary character never equaled before or since on 
this continent. No quarter was given or expected. 
Sometimes the colonists were overpowered by over- 
whelming numbers, as was Lothrop at Bloody 
Brook and Wadsworth at Sudbury, and then they 
fought until all, or nearly all, fell dead in their tracks. 
When the savages refrained from tomahawking a 
captive on the spot, it was usually because the}^ re- 
served him, with fiendish malice, for a more dread- 
ful fate. They were not content even with burning 
the victims at the stake, but tortured them as they 
were being roasted in every way that the diabolical 
ingenuity of a savage mind could invent. 



THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS. 89 

It is not surprising that, the colonists, who usually 
sought in the Bible inspiration for all their conduct, 
became animated before the close of the war by feel- 
ings not so divine as those inculcated by Holy Writ. 
Some allowance must be made for the frenzy of men 
to whom the recollection was yet fresh of burning 
homes, and in whose ears were yet ringing the shrieks 
of murdered wives and babes. 

King Philip's war proves, more clearly than any 
other in the history of this country, how war can so 
arouse the devilish passions of men as almost to ob- 
literate the line of demarkation between barbarism 
and civilization. It is true that the colonists did not 
roast their captives at the stake, as did their Indian 
foes; but they sent some of them to far-off lands to 
languish and die in slavery. This was the horrible 
punishment inflicted even upon Philip's little son 
who was sold as a slave in Bermuda. For this bar- 
barous and inhuman act no reputable Massachusetts 
historian has ventured even an apology, although, 
as Palfrey suggests, "some of the ministers con- 
sidered the case to be analogous to that of Hadad, 
the Edomite, in the first book of Kings ii, 14." 
After Canonchet had been executed, his head was 
cut off and sent to Hartford. After Philip was 
slain his body was quartered, his head was severed 
and paraded at Plymouth on a day appointed for 
public thanksgiving. We are shocked by the dia- 
bolical ferocity of the women in the time of the 
French revolution, but it must be recorded that 
some of the gentle Puritan dames were likewise 
wrought up into a frenzy which made them little less 



go THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

ferocious than the women of France. The women 
of Marblehead, as they came out of meeting one 
Sunday, rushed upon two Indian prisoners, who had 
just been captured, and murdered them on the spot. 
The hostility of the Narragansetts, though sus- 
pected before, was not fully disclosed until October, 
1675. It was now obvious to the colonists that there 
was imminent danger of a general uprising of the 
Indians and that all would be lost unless a decisive 
blow could be struck before the following spring. 
It was determined to attack the Narragansetts in their 
stronghold, where their chief, Canonchet, had gath- 
ered together some 2,000 armed warriors in a 
strong fort situated in a swamp. The fort was 
surrounded by palisades, and the only apparent 
access to it was over a log then slippery with 
snow. In the dead of winter the expedition set out 
under the command of Gov. Winslow, of Plymouth. 
It numbered a little less than 1,000 men made up of 
troops from Massachusetts, Plymouth and Connecti- 
cut. Marching through the snow the little army 
reached the fort on Sunday, the 19th of December, 
and immediately stormed the Indian stronghold. Six 
of the captains were shot in the begin nmg of the as- 
sault, but the colonial troops pressed forward, and 
climbed upon each other's shoulders in order to scale 
the palisades. Once they gained an entrance and 
were repulsed. Again they rushed forward and 
reached the inside of the works at the same time that 
some of their comrades had effected an entrance 
through a weak spot in the rear. Then began a 
bloody hand to hand fight that lasted for hours. The 



THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS. 9 1 

colonial soldiers fought with the fierce and desperate 
English courage, which, on other and larger fields, 
has made the stories of Agincourt and Waterloo and 
Balaklava more wonderful than even the poetic 
fables of the siege of Troy. Until the sun went 
down on that December day they smote their savage 
foes. When night came on the shadows fell upon a 
dreadful sight. Of Winslow's men, one-fourth had 
been killed or wounded. The dead Narragansetts 
lay piled in heaps. Nearly 1,000 of them had been 
slain. Of the survivors, Canonchet, with some of 
his followers, escaped, and the rest were taken pris- 
oners. 

This was the turning point in the war, though it 
was not the end of it. Philip appeared again in the 
following spring and hostilities were resumed. There 
were more massacres and devastations, but it would 
not be possible in a short chapter to recount the 
stories so often told of the horrors of this dreadful 
war. It lasted but little over a year. Before its close, 
Canonchet w^as captured and executed and Philip 
was slain. The colonists were victorious, but their 
victory had been dearly bought. The public funds 
had been exhausted and enormous public debts had 
been incurred in carr3-ing on the war. Ruin was 
on every hand. Man}^ towns had been entirely de- 
stroyed. Everywhere houses and barns had been 
burned, fields laid waste, cattle killed or driven off, 
and, what was far more distressing, nearly every 
family mourned the loss of some one who had been 
slain or carried away into captivity. Mr. Hudson^ 

' Hist. Marlborough^ p. So. 



92 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

has thus concisely summed up the dreadful results of 
the war: 

"The horrors and devastation of Philip's war have no 
parallel in our history. The Revolution was a struggle for 
freedom; the contest with Philip was for existence. The 
war lasted only about fourteen months ; and yet the towns 
of Brookfield, Lancaster, Marlborough, Medfield, Sudbury, 
Groton, Deerfield, Hatfield, Hadley, Northfield, Spring- 
field, Weymouth, Chelmsford, Andover, Scituate, Bridge- 
water, Plymouth, and several other places, were wholly or 
partially destroyed, and many of the inhabitants were mas- 
sacred or carried into captivity. During this short period 
six hundred of our brave men, the flower and strength of 
the colony, had fallen, and six hundred dwelling-houses 
were consumed. Every eleventh family was homeless, and 
every eleventh soldier had sunk to his grave." 

In an address before the Massachusetts Historical 
Society,^ Dr. Palfrey, speaking of King Philip's war, 
says : 

"Before it is finished, there is scarcely a family in Massa- 
chusetts or Plymouth but has lost a father, brother or son. 
Plymouth has incurred a debt estimated to be equal to the 
whole personal property of its people. The sacrifice of 
life and property in Massachusetts, between June, 1675, and 
October, 1676, is greater, in proportion to her population 
and wealth, than that afterwards sustained by her in the 
whole eight years' war of Independence. She met the ex- 
hausting demand almost wholly from her own resources." 

To the Indians the war was even more disastrous 
than it was to the colonists. No accurate estimate 

1 Mass. His. Coll., 3d Ser., Vol. 9, p. 181. 



THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS. 93 

can be made of the number slain in battle, but the 
number far exceeded the number of the colonists 
who so perished. Many of the captives were exe- 
cuted; man}^ more were sold into slavery. Their 
villages were burned and their planting grounds de- 
stroyed, and they were left almost totally destitute. 
The once powerful Narragansett tribe had been 
practically annihilated. Those who had not been 
killed or sold as slaves amalgamated with other tribes 
and the tribe lost its name and its identity. 

At the close of the war it is certain that our Puritan 
ancestors indulged in no sentimental ideas of the 
*' noble red man." To them he had become a fright- 
ful reality, a treacherous and unpitying foe, whose 
painted face and appalling whoop struck terror to the 
strongest heart. He came with stealthy tread and 
butchered with relentless fur}'. None knew when 
the fierce savage, with horrid face and dreadful yell, 
brandishing tomahawk and scalping knife, might 
rush upon the man driving his plow in the field, or 
fall upon his helpless wife and children in his home. 

But there were no more Indian wars during the 
existence of the commonwealth. In that region the 
dominion of the white man over the red man had 
been established forever. 



V 

DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE 

Large Families. — The domestic circle in the time 
of the old Puritans was usually a very large one. 
The stories of the numbers of some of them are 
amazing. It is difficult to comprehend how they 
were all taken care of, but they were taken care of, 
and most of them grew up to be strong, health}/ and 
useful members of the community. The author of 
the "Magnalia" tells many wonderful stories, but 
we have no reason to doubt what he says about the 
size of the old Puritan families. He gives one in- 
stance of a woman who bore twenty-two children, 
and of another who bore twenty-three, of whom 
nineteen lived to adult years. The mother of Gov. 
William Phips, he tells us, had twenty-one sons 
and five daughters. The Rev. John Sherman, of 
Watertown, had six children by his first wife and 
twenty by his second. It is doubtful if the women, 
even of that day, would have expressed such pious 
gratitude as did Cotton Mather when he said, " Be- 
hold, thus was our Sherman, that eminent fearer of 
the Lord, blessed of Him."^ 

DwELLiNG-HousES. — The most of the dwelling- 
houses in the beginning were very small structures, 

^ Magnalta, Vol. i, p. 517. 

(94) 



A 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. 95 

built of logs, the "chinks" or spaces between the logs 
being filled with clay, the roofs being thatched with 
coarse grass or covered with cloboards, and the floors 
being made of split logs or puncheons. Generally 
the house consisted of two rooms, a living room and 
a kitchen, with sleeping places in the garret reached 
by a ladder. Sheldon^ says that "a common form 
was eighteen feet square, with seven feet stud, stone 
fireplaces, with catted chimney and a hip-roof cov- 
ered with thatch." The pictures of them show 
houses very similar to those so common in the early 
settlements in the west.^ 

They were heated by fireplaces. Stoves did not 
come into general use until long afterwards. They 
were lighted^ at first with pieces of pitch-pine or 
candle-wood. Wax candles were a luxury, and so 
were tallow candles until cattle and sheep became 
plentiful. Sperm oil was not used until whale fish- 
ing was established, which was not until 1690, and 
it was not until 1774 that Boston took steps to light 
the streets. 

x\s soon as saw-mills and the manufacture of brick 
were introduced, which was at an early date, the log 
houses in the towns gave way to larger and better 
structures of a varlet}^ of styles. When glass began 
to be used In the windows, the panes were small, 
diamond-shaped pieces. Before that oiled paper was 
used instead of glass. 

In all the houses, the kitchen was a prominent 

^ History of Deer field. Vol. i, p. 276. 

* Palfrey, Vol. 2, p. 63; Dorchester in the Colonial Period, hy Rev. 
Samuel F. Barrows; i Mem. Hist, of Boston, p. 423. 

^ Candle-light in Colonial Times, i N. Eng. Mag., p. 516. 



^6 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

feature. In one end was a great fireplace. In this 
swung the crane, with its pothooks, leaving ample 
room beneath for the skillets and frying pans. From 
the ceiling hung ears of corn and pieces of cured ineat. 
In the winter around this fireplace, with its huge 
backlog and roaring flames, gathered the famil}^; 
and when we remember that the "family" often 
comprised ten or more children, we can readily im- 
agine that the gathering was not a small one. 

The furniture of these dwellings was usually as 
plain as the dwellings themselves — some home-made 
tables, benches or stools, plain bedsteads and ticks 
filled with straw or pine needles. If there was any- 
thing more costly, it was some piece of furniture or 
plate brought from England. In the " catalogue of 
such needful things as every planter doth or ought to 
provide to go to New England," Francis Higgin- 
son^ in 1630 enumerated the following: " House- 
hold Implements, viz.: i iron pot; i kettle; i fry- 
ing pan; i gridiron; 2 skillets; i spit; wooden plat- 
ters; dishes; spoons; trenchers." 

Extravagance in the building and furnishing of 
houses was not more favored by the early Puritans 
than was extravagance in dress. In 1632 Winthrop 
reproved his deputy "that he did not well to bestow 
too much cost about wainscotting^ and adorning- his 
house in the beginning of a plantation, both in re- 
gard of the public charges and for example." But, 
long before the close of the commonwealth, the ad- 
vice of Winthrop lost its force and houses of a far 
more pretentious character began to appear, especially 

* Ne-w England's Plantation. 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. 97 

in Boston, and even the pious Judge Sewall was 
writing to London for finer furniture than he could 
get in America. 



to 



The inventories of estates found in the early pro- 
bate records show that, long before the close of the 
commonwealth period, the houses of some of the 
wealthy inhabitants of Boston were furnished very 
richly, and specimens of some finely carved furniture, 
beautiful plate, and other costly interior ornaments, 
are still preserved in antiquarian museums and as 
heirlooms in private families. But the great majority 
of the houses and their furnishings, even in Boston, 
were plain and simple. 

Apparel. — In Higginson's catalogue of "needful 
things," before mentioned, he enumerates the follow- 
ing articles of apparel, viz: " i Monmouth Cap; 3 fall- 
ing bands; 3 shirts; i waistcoat; i suit of canvass; i 
suit of frieze; i suit of cloth; 3 pair of stockings; 4 
pair of shoes." Mr. Scudder^ gives an elaborate de- 
scription of the kind and material of clothing worn 
in the time of the commonwealth, but confesses that 
he is obliged to "retreat" when it comes to discuss- 
ing the " varying forms and st3'les of woman's dress." 
However, the reader whose curiosity is not entirely 
satisfied will find this interesting subject fully dis- 
cussed in more recent volumes by a very gifted and 
graceful writer.^ In a country so new, occupied by so 
poor a people, we should not expect much extrava- 
gance in dress, but it seems that this was early a source 

* Life in Boston in the Colonial Period ; i Mem. Hist. Boston, p. 4S7. 
^ Alice Morse Earle's Costumes of Colonial Times; Customs and 
Fashions in Old Ne'M England; Chapter on '•'■ Raiment and Vesture!* 
Pur. Rep. — 7 



98 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

of grief to our forefathers, for in 1634 the General 
Court ordered "that noe person, either man or 
woman, shall hereafter make or buy any apparell, 
ether wollen, silke or lynnen,with any lace on it, sil- 
ver, gold or threed, under penalty of forfeiture of such 
cloathes," and also prohibited making or buying "any 
slashed cloathes, other than one slashe in each sleeve 
and another in the back"; also "all cutt-works, im- 
broidered or needle worke capps, bands & vayles"; 
also "all golde or silver girdles, hattbands, belts, ruffs, 
beaver hatts ' ' ; but permission was generously given 
the people to wear out their old clothes, "except the 
immoderate greate sleeves, slashed apparel, immod- 
erate greate vayles, long wings. "^ 

In 1639, t^^ General Court made another order 
prohibiting the wearing upon garments " any man- 
ner of lace," and in the same order it was provided 
" that hereafter no garment shall be made with short 
sleeves, whereby the nakedness of the arme may be 
discovered in the wearing thereof & such as have 
garments already made with short sleeves shall not 
hereafter were the same, unless they cover their 
armes to the wrist with linen or otherwise. And 
that hereafter no person whatsoever shall make any 
garment for woemen, or any of ther sex, with sleeves 
more than halfe an elle wide in the widest place 
thereof & so proportionable for biger or smaller per- 
sons."^ 

In 1 65 1 a law was passed^ with a very long recital 
against " excess in Aparel," and, in order to compel 

^ Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 126. 
*Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 274. 
k* Col. Laws, 1672-16S6, p, 5. 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. 99 

^' the sober and moderate use of those blessings 
which, be3'ond expectation the Lord hath been 
pleased to afford unto us in this wilderness," pro- 
ceeds to denounce penalties against gold or silver 
lace or buttons, or "bone lace above two shil- 
lings per yard," " the wearing of ribbonds or great 
Boots (leather being so scarce a commodity in 
this country) Lace points &c. Silk Hoods or Scarfs "; 
and the selectmen of every town were required to 
*'take notice of Apparel of any of the Inhabitants 
of their severall Towns respectively." But "excess 
in apparel" continuing, "whereby the Rising Gen- 
eration are in danger to be Corrupted and Effemi- 
nated," another law was passed in 1662 which also 
forbade the "Taylors" from making or fashioning 
any garment for children or servants "contrary to 
the mind and order of their Parents or Governors," 
and in 1675 ''^he evil pride in Apparel" continuing 
and "new strange Fashions" appearing "both in 
poor and rich, v/ith naked Breasts and Arms, or, as 
it were, pinnioned with the Addition of Superflous 
Ribbons, both on Hair and Apparel," another law 
was passed directing that if the grand jurors failed 
to find indictments against the guilty persons, the 
county courts should impose a fine upon them at 
their discretion.^ 

The Rev. Nathaniel Ward also preached a furious 
sermon against ungodliness in female attire and con- 
fessed that he found himself wrought up into a frenzy 
when he heard "a nugiferous Gentledame inquire 
what dress the Queen is in this week; what the med- 

' Col. Laws, 1672- 16S6, p. 233. 



lOO THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

instertian fashion of the Court," and thereupon "the 
simple cobbler of Agawam" proceeded to denounce 
her as "the very gizzard of a trifle, the product of a 
quarter of a cipher, the epitome of nothing, fitter to 
be kicked, if she were a kickable substance, than 
cither honored or humored." He added, we are 
<i:lad to learn, that there were only "about five or six 
of them in our colony." If there had been but one, 
possibly she might have been squelched, as the Bill- 
ingsgate fishwoman was by Sydney Smith by simply 
calling her "an isosceles triangle." 

The question whether women should appear veiled 
or not at public assemblages, got into the churches. 
Roger Williams, then the minister at Salem, thought 
they ought to wear veils, and, of course, he had 
plenty of scripture to prove it. It happened 
that John Cotton took the opposite view, and, of 
course, he had plenty of scripture, as he always 
had, to sustain his contention. An abridgment of 
the great debate between these two eminent divines 
on this interesting question is given us by the historian 
Hubbard, who says that among the "many strange 
notions" taught by Williams was: 

' ' As first that it was the duty of all the female sex to 
cover themselves with veils when they went abroad, espe- 
cially when they appeared in the public assemblies ; as if 
he meant to read them a lecture out of Tertulian, DeVe- 
landis Virginibus, &c., for the uncouthness of the sight to 
see all the women in the congregation veiled, contrary to 
the custom of the English nation, would probably have 
drawn the eyes of the rest upon them, especially strangers, 
much more than if they had attired themselves after the 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL IJFE. lOI 

fashion of their neighbors. But in reference to this kind of 
fancy, it is observable, that the reverend Mr. Cotton, taking 
an occasion about this time to spend a Lord's day at Salem, 
in his exercise in the forenoon he, by his doctrine, so en- 
lightened most of the women in the place that it unveiled 
them, so as they appeared in the afternoon without their 
veils, being convinced that they need not put on veils on 
any such account as the use of that covering is mentioned 
in the scripture for, viz., not as they were virgins, which 
the married sort could not pretend unto ; much less as har- 
lots as Tamar ; nor yet on any such like account as is men- 
tioned of Ruth in her widowhood, which discourse let in so 
much light into their understandings that they, who before 
thought it a shame to be seen in the public without a veil, 
were ashamed ever after to be covered with them."^ 

It seems that Cotton's arguments suited either the 
tastes or the consciences of the ladies better than did 
those of AVilliams, for after that the women wore 
veils only when it suited them to do so. 

Dr. Higginson tells us^ that "in 1652 three men 
and a woman were fined ten shillings each and costs 
for wearing silver lace; another for broad bone lace, 
another for tiffany, and another for a silk hood," 
and that Jonas Fairbanks about the same time was 
"charged with great-boots and the evidence went 
hard against him, but he was fortunatel}' acquitted 
and the credit of the family saved." So late as 1676 
thirty-eight women were arraigned in Northampton 
for their "wicked apparell." But not long after 
similar prosecutions were quashed. Our foremothers 

'Mass. Hist. Coll., 2d Ser., Vol. 5, pp. 204-5. 
* The Puritan Minister^ 12 Atl. Monthly, 276, 



I02 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

had triumphed over the magistrates and the latter 
gave up the contest. 

" Longe haire " on men was denounced by the 
General Court as early as 1634, but the fashion 
among men of wearing long hair " after the man- 
ner of Russians and barbarous Indians" having 
^' begun to invade New England, contrary to the 
rule of God's words which says it is a shame for a 
man to wear long hair," Gov. Endicott and the 
magistrates united in a solemn protest in which they 
declared their "dislike and detestation against the 
wearing of such long hair as against a thing uncivil 
and unmannerly, whereby men doe deforme them- 
selves, and offend sober and modest men, and doe 
corrupt good manners."^ The fashion continued to 
such an alarming extent that divers inhabitants of 
Roxbury were moved to present to the General 
Court in 1673 a petition remonstrating against the 
evil example set before the people at Harvard Col- 
lege, chiefly because the youth there " are brought 
up in such pride as doth no ways become such as are 
brought up for the holy service of the Lord, either in 
the magistracy or ministry especialy, and hi ■perticTi^ 
lav in their long haire^ which last first tooke head and 
brake out at the colledg, so far as we understand and 
remember, and now it has got into our pulpets to the 
great greife and fear of many Godty hearts in the Coun- 
try."^ But this "provoking evil " still continued so 
to contaminate the morals of the community that in 
1675 it was found necessary to pass a law making it 

^Hutchinson, Vol. i, pp. 142-3. 

"N. E. Hist. & Gen, Reg., Vol- 35, pp. 121-2. 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I03 

a penal offense for men to wear "long hair like 
women's hair."^ 

Food and Drink. ^ — Of fish there was great 
plenty and so there was of wild game and fowl. Out 
of the Indian corn, the colonists learned from the 
Indians how to make many palatable dishes. Be- 
fore it was quite matured it furnished roasting ears 
and "sukquttahhash." When matured it was made 
into hominy and the meal from it was used in 
making mush, johnny-cake or journe3'-cake, hoe- 
cake and ash-cakes, and a variety of other kinds of 
of food. Wheat did not thrive well and was little 
used for food in early times. But pumpkins, or 
"pompions" as they were called in those da3's, grew 
abundantly, and out of these delicious pies and 
man}^ other dishes were made. Squashes grew in 
equal abundance. Beans, peas, and other garden 
vegetables also thrived and helped to furnish the 
Puritan tables. It was not long until the colonists 
had beef and mutton, and, as soon as they could grow 
them, apples, cherries and other small fruits came on 
to reinforce the table supplies. We read of Thanks- 
o-ivinof dinners lons^ before the close of the common- 
wealth which were the precursors of those for which 
New England afterwards became so celebrated, and 
which leave no room for doubt that the old Puritans 
could enjoy a good dinner as well as a good sermon. 

There was plenty of good water. Francis Hig- 
ginson wrote in 1629 that the country was full of 

^Col. Laws 1672-16S6, p. 233. 

* Alice Morse Earle's Cusloms and Fashions in Old jVezv England ; 
chapters on " Suf^lies of the Larder " and " Old Coloiiial Drinks and 
Drinkers^^ 



I04 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

*' dainty springs," and that " we may dig wells and 
find water where we list." Nevertheless the Puri- 
tans who came from England did not take kindly to 
New England water as a drink, and they soon be- 
gan to make ale and beer, and ale-houses sprang 
up on every hand. As soon as apples became plentiful, 
cider became plentiful also, and it seems that the 
harder it was, the more it was liked as a bever- 
age. It was also distilled into cider-brandy or ap- 
ple-jack. After a few years wine began to be im- 
ported, and all classes drank wine when they could 
get it. Later rum and whisky were also made and 
drunk. But laws against excessive drinking of in- 
toxicating liquors were speedil}^ enacted and rigidly 
enforced. In 1639 ^^^ General Court enacted a law 
making the drinking to one another a penal offense, 
and other laws against excessive drinking of intoxi- 
cating liquors were afterwards passed. Such entries 
as these were common: "James Brown is censured 
for drunkeness to bee set two hours in the bilboes 
upon market day at Boston publiquely." Neverthe- 
less, intemperance continued to increase until it be- 
came a very prevalent and crying evil. 

Tea was a rarity, if not unknown, during the 
commonwealth period, and we do not hear of coffee 
until about 1670. 

Tobacco. — A vigorous and persistent war was 
waged against the use of tobacco. In 1632, the 
General Court forbade the taking of any tobacco 
" publiquely." In 1634 ^^ was further ordered that 
no person should take tobacco, either " publiquely or 
privately in his owne howse, or in the howse of 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. 105 

another, before strangers & that two or more shall 
not take it togeather an3'where." A short time after- 
wards the purchase and sale of tobacco was ex- 
pressly prohibited.^ In 1637, the law against buy- 
ing and selling tobacco was repealed, but other laws 
were subsequently enacted to discourage its use, all 
of which seem to have been unavailino-. 

Inns or Ordinaries. — Inns early became a 
prominent feature of the social life of the common- 
wealth. They were not only indispensable to the 
traveler, but they became centers for the dissem- 
ination of local and foreign news. Indeed as there 
were no newspapers and no mails, information as to 
what was going on in the outside world was gained 
chiefly from the innkeeper, who drew his supplies 
from his guests. The landlord himself was usually 
a prominent man in the community and frequently 
held an office of some sort. 

But the inns must soon have become places of re- 
sort for those inclined to greater conviviality than 
suited the ancient Puritans, for we find that the Gen- 
eral Court early began to exercise a strict sun^eillance 
over all such places. At an early period innkeepers 
were required to procure licenses. Every innkeeper 
was required to be "always provided of strong, whole- 
some Beer, of four bushels of Mault (at the least) to 
a hogshead, which he shall not sell at above two- 
pence the Ale quart"; but innkeepers were expressly 
forbidden to sell sack or strong water, or to allow any 
drunken person on their premises, or to suffer any 
person "to drink excessively, viz., above halfe a pint 

^ Mass. Rec, Vol. i, pp. loi, 126, 136. 



Io6 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

of wine for one person, at a time, or to continue 
Tipling above the space of halfe an hour, or at un- 
seasonable times, or after nine of the Clock at night." 
Nor were they to allow any tobacco smoking "ex- 
cept in a private room."^ Gaming and dancing in 
inns were expressly forbidden. Finally, in 1664, 
''This Court being sensible of the great encrease of 
Prophaness amongst us, especially in the younger sort, 
taking their opportunity by meeting together in 
places of publick entertainment, to corrupt one an- 
other by their uncivil and wanton carriages, rudely 
singing and making a noise," all such "prophaness" 
was made a finable offense, and, if the innkeeper did 
not prosecute the revellers, his license was forfeited.^ 
Mr. Hudson^ has given us, as a sample of the strict 
conditions imposed upon the keepers of public houses, 
the material portions of the bond required by the 
public authorities of Col. Thomas Howe, who kept 
the public inn at Marlborough in 1696. It provided: 

"That he shall not suffer or have any playing at cards, 
dice, tally bowls, nine pins, billiards, or any other unlawful 
game or games in his said house, or yard, or gardens, or back- 
side, nor shall suffer to remain in his house any person or 
persons, not being his own family, on Saturday night after 
dark, or on the Sabbath days, or during the time of God's 
Public Worship ; nor shall he entertain as lodgers in his 
house any strangers, men or women, above the space of 
forty-eight hours, but such whose names and surnames, he 
shall deliver to some one of the selectmen or constable of 
the town, unless they shall be such as he very well knoweth, 

^ Col. Laws 1660-1672, pp. 163, 164. 
2 Col. Laws 1660-1672, p. 228-9. 
' His. Marlborough, p. 382. 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. 1 07 

and will ensure for his or their forth coming — nor shall sell 
any wine to the Indians, or negroes, nor suffer any children 
or servant, or other person to remain in his house, tippling 
or drinking after nine o'clock in the night — nor shall buy or 
take to preserve any stolen goods, nor willingly or know- 
ingly harbor in his house, barn, stable, or otherwhere, any 
rogues, vagabonds, thieves, sturdy beggars, masterless men 
or women, or other notorious offenders whatsoever — nor 
shall any person or persons whatsoever, sell or utter any 
wine, beer, ale, cider, rum, brandy or other liquors, by de- 
faulting, or by color of his license — nor shall entertain any 
person or persons to whom he shall be prohibited by law, 
or by any one of the magistrates of the County, as persons 
of jolly conversation or given to tippling." 

But notwithstanding the severity of the laws, the 
inns were popular places of resort, and there is 
reason to believe that the landlords, when the con- 
stables and tithing-men were not about, did not al- 
ways allow their zeal for the enforcement of the 
laws to lose them the custom of those who sought 
their inns for a little social recreation and momenta- 
rily casting aside some of the rigid restraints with 
which their daily life was hedged about. Indeed some 
of the inns, like the Blue Anchor at Boston, and 
the Greyhound at Roxbury, became famous, and 
their landlords were known far and wide for their 
genial disposition and generous hospitality. Dunton, 
the bookseller, who visited Boston in 1686, said of 
George Monck, the landlord, that it was " almost 
impossible not to be cheerful in his compan}^" In 
a letter written February 29, 1692, by Joseph Noyes, 
one of the selectmen of Sudbury to the Middlesex 
county court, recommending Samuel Howe as the 



Io8 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

most suitable person to have a license to entertain 
travelers, he says: " It is in the minds of most of us 
that there should be none to retale drink amongst us, 
by reason of the growing of the sin of drunkenness 
amonofst us. Oure fathers came into this wilderness to 
enjoy the Gospel and his ordinances in its purity and 
the convertion of the hethen, but insted of convert- 
ing them, amongst other sins, we have taught them to 
be drunckerds "; and he says further that in his opin- 
ion inns should be for entertainment of travelers 
"and not Town drunckards."^ 

Roads and Travel. — Travel and commerce with 
other colonies, and also internal commerce, were 
chiefly by water. Until roads and bridges were 
made, land travel was over the trails or paths which 
had been used by the Indians and was chiefly on foot 
until horses became plentiful. The earliest of the 
great roads was the Old Plymouth or Coast Road, 
connecting Boston and Plymouth. In early times 
no person was allowed to travel ove:?it single "nor with- 
out some arms, though two or three together."^ The 
old "Connecticut Path" ran from Cambridge through 
Sudbury, Marlborough and other frontier towns and 
finally to Albany in New York. There were also 
the "Bay Path" and other famous roads. As towns 
could afford the expense, roads and bridges and 
ferries were established within their limits. Lonsr 
journeys over these roads were chiefly on horseback, 
the women usually being seated on a pillion, and 
the traveler depended for his provisions upon the 
supplies which he carried or those furnished at the 

1 N. E. Hist. & Gen. Reg., Vol. 4, p. 64, 

2 Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. S5. 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I09 

inns along the way. The vehicles first used were 
two-wheeled carts. Stage-coaches did not come into 
use during the commonwealth period. 

Public Days, Holidays, etc. — Christmas day, as 
it is known now, the day on which all the world 
should be glad, the sweet day that Dickens has 
painted in the "Christmas Carol," was unknown to 
our forefathers. At an earl}^ date a law was passed for 
preventing disorders arising from '"observing such 
feastivals as were superstitiously kept in other 
Countryes to the Great dishonour of God and offence 
of others," and it was therefore made a finable offense 
to observe "any such day as Christmas or the like, 
either by forbearing labour, feasting, or any other 
way."^ This law was not repealed until the year 
1 68 1. Of course May days and other old and time- 
honored English holidays fell under the ban of the 
same law. 

But there were various public days. Some of 
them were of a religious character. There were Fast 
days, and Thanksgiving days, and Lecture days. The 
observances on Fast and Thanksgiving days are too 
well known to need special mention. 

The Thursday lecture afforded an opportunity of 
social meetings, of which advantage was eagerly 
taken, and people often went from one town to an- 
other to attend the exercises; so much so that at a later 
period it became necessary to put some restraints 
upon this custom, for in 1675 ^ ^^^ ^"^^ passed re- 
citing that: "Whereas there is a loose and sinful 
Customesof Going or Riding from Town to Town, and 

* Colonial Laws, 1660-1672, p. 153. 



no THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

that oft times Men and Women together, upon pre- 
tence of going to Lectures, but it appears to be meerly 
to Drink and Revil in Ordinaries and Taverns, which 
is in it self Scandalous, and it is to be feared a notable 
means to debauch our Youth, and hazard the Chastity 
of such as are drawn forth thereunto," and providing 
that all single persons so conducting themselves 
should be ''reputed and accounted Riotous and Un- 
sober persons, and of ill Behaviour" and should be 
punished accordingly.^ 

There were some public days not of a religious 
character. Of these the chief was election da}^ But 
the training or muster day was the day on which, 
more than any other, there seems to have been most 
freedom from the religious restraints of the times. 

Amusements, Games, etc. — The austere and 
somber character of their religion tended to make 
our ancestors look unkindly at anything like frivolity. 
Moreover there was not then much time for play. 
Consequently we find all kinds of games discounte- 
nanced by the old laws. Among the first laws passed 
was one enacted in 1631, prohibiting cards and dice, 
and a law was subsequently passed imposing a line 
for bringing them into the country or for being 
found in possession of them. Dancing in houses of 
common entertainment was also prohibited, and in- 
deed dancing in any place was not favored. In 1638, 
Lawrence Waters and his wife and others were by 
the General Court solemnly " admonished to avoyde 
dancing," 

Theatrical entertainments were not thought of 

* Mass. Col. Laws 1672-1686, p. 236. 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. Ill 

during the commonwealth period, and it was a long- 
time afterwards before they were countenanced, the 
first in Boston being in 1750. Even singing schools 
did not come into fashion until 1720. 

But we shall err if we suppose that the Puritan 
laws, or an}^ other, could totally repress, especially 
among young people, occasional relaxations from 
religious restraint. The men found diversion in 
hunting parties for exterminating wolves and bears, 
in house raisings, and in the excitement of elections 
and muster days. The women, doubtless, had their 
quilting parties and other opportunities of meeting 
and discussing the latest fashions and exchanging the 
little gossip of the neighborhood. And the young 
men and women must have got sight of each other 
at the apple bees and corn-huskings; and when, at 
the latter, the lucky 3"oung man found a red ear, it 
is to be presumed that he exercised his undoubted 
right, established by the unwritten law, existing 
"from time whereof the memory of man runneth 
not to the contrary," of kissing the girl of his choice. 

Courtship and Marriage. — The opportunities 
for courtship would seem to have been limited. 
Still there were opportunities. We can easily imagine 
that even at church, when the preacher was going on 
and on in seemingly endless discourse, and the hour- 
glass was being turned and turned again, there were 
e3^es that "looked love to eyes which spake again." 
At any rate the early Puritans believed in marrying. 
They married young and did not spend much time 
in mourning for a lost mate, but got another as soon 
as practicable. Every encouragement to marriage 



112 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

was given by the laws. Still the young man had to 
be careful that he did not persist in getting his sweet- 
heart's affections without the consent of her parents. 
If he did he was liable to be fined, for courting a 
''mayd" without the consent of her parents was ex- 
pressly forbidden. But, in favor of the children and 
"mayds," it was provided that "If any person shall 
wilfully and unreasonably deny any child, timely or 
convenient marriage, or shall exercise any unatural 
severity toward them, such children shall have liberty 
to complaine to Authority for redress in such cases. "^ 

The law required that notice of the intention of 
the parties to be married should be published or 
posted in the town where they resided, or, if they re- 
sided in different towns, then in both. The marriage 
ceremony was performed, not by a minister, but by 
a civil magistrate, and the preaching of sermons on 
such occasions was allowed with great caution be- 
cause, says Winthrop^, "We were not willing to 
bring in the English custom of ministers performing 
the solemnity of marriage, which sermons at such 
times might induce, but if any ministers were present 
and would bestow a word of exhortation, etc., it was 
permitted." Marriage rings were not allowed, the 
old Puritans, according to Morton,^ believing "that it 
is a relique of popery to make use of a ring in mar- 
riage, and that it is a diabolicall circle for the Devil to 
daunce in." 

It is to be presumed that the young ladies in those 
days were as apt as they are now in finding expedi- 

' Col. Laws 1660-1672, p. 137. 

2Vol. 2, 314. 

^ Ne-M English Canaan, p. 118. 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. II 3 

ents to avoid the attentions of suitors who were not 
favored. Judge Sewall tells us how his daughter 
Betty, when Capt. Tuthill called, ran away and hid 
in the family coach and remained until he had de- 
parted. 

The etiquette of the first families of Boston in early 
times seems to have required that the parents of the 
young man who was permitted by the parents of 
a young lady to wait upon her, should thank the 
latter for the honor so accorded. At least Judge 
Sewall in his diary records that he was so thanked by 
the parents of those who afterward married his 
daughters, Betty and Judith. And he records with 
evident satisfaction how "Gov. Dudley visits me in 
his Chariot; speaks to me in behalf of Col. Wm. 
Dudley, that I would give him leave that he might 
visit my daughter Judith. I said 'twas a weighty mat- 
ter. I would consider of it, etc."^ 

The narrative which Judge Sewall has given us of 
his own courtships should not be overlooked. The 
period covered by them was not so long after the com- 
monwealth period as to lead us to suppose that there 
had been, in the meantime, an}- marked changes in 
the customs of Boston society from what they were 
towards the end of the commonwealth. 

It is true that the judge's account is not so poetical 
as the "Courtship of Miles Standish," and it is also 
true that it is onl}' the account of the courtships of 
an aged widower, but it is the only record extant of 
Puritan courtships in early times which enters into 

^ Sewall Papers, Vol. 3, p. 164. 
Pur. Rep.— S 



114 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

the minutest details with scrupulous adherence to the 
exact facts.^ 

The Judge's first wife, who had borne him fourteen 
children, died October 19, 171 7. On February 6, fol- 
lowing,^ the Judge records: "This morning wander- 
ing in my mind whether to live a Single or a Mar- 
ried Life." After some further mental debate, and 
apparently some indecision, as to whom to select of 
various widows whom he evidently had in mind, he 
made court to the widow Dennison, whose husband 
had been dead but a short time, the Judge having 
written his will. But in this, as in all his subsequent 
courtships, it is plain that the promptings of Cupid 
never caused the Judge to lose sight of the financial 
considerations entering into his contemplated matri- 
monial contracts. 

The editors of his diary mildly speak of his court- 
ship of Mrs. Dennison as "infelicitous." It was 
broken off because, though the Judge writes, "My 
bowels yern towards Mrs. Dennison," he and the 
widow could not agree upon the terms of a marriage 
settlement. As she construed the terms proposed by 
the Judge, " She said she thought 'twas hard to part 
with All and have nothing to bestow on her Kin- 
dred." The judge records that "God directs me in 
his Providence to desist," but the impression left by 
the Judge's own admission is that worldly considera- 
tions of his own, rather than God's providence, 
caused the breaking off of the match. 

He next courted, and afterwards married, the 
widow Tilley. She died May 26, 1720, the Judge 

^ See Sewall Papers, Vol. 3. 
* Papers, Vol. 3, p. 164. 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. II 5 

being then about 69 3-ears old. lie lost no time 
in looking about for another helpmate, and cast his 
eyes upon Mrs. Katherine Winthrop, widow of Gen. 
Wait Winthrop, who had buried two husbands. The 
Judge and Mrs. Winthrop both resided in Boston, 
and the Judge made his first call upon her about four 
months after the death of his second wife. This is 
his account of the first meeting;^ 

"8ri. (Oct. I.) Satterday. I dine at Mr. Stod- 
dard's; from thence I went to Madam Winthrop's just at 
3. Spake to her; saying my loving wife died so soon and 
so suddenly, 'twas hardly convenient for me to think of 
Marrying again; however I came to this Resolution, that I 
would not make my Court to any person without first Con- 
sulting with her. Had a pleasant discourse about 7 (seven) 
Single persons sitting in the Fore-seat /r 29th, viz. Madm. 
Rebekah Dudley, Catherine Winthrop, Bridget Usher, De- 
liverance Legg, Rebekah Loyd, Lydia Colman, Elizabeth 
Bellingham. She propounded one and another for me; but 
none would do; said Mrs. Loyd was about her Age." 

The guileless simplicity of the learned Judge in 
omitting any allusion to the matrimonial qualitications 
of Madam Winthrop, herself, and the readiness with 
which the equally guileless widow suggested the 
names of the six widows and spinsters, besides her- 
self, who occupied the "fore-seat" in the church, re- 
mind us how much widowers and widows in early 
times were like those of to-day. 

On the following Monday night the Judge called 
again, and, after some short preliminary talk, he 
threw off all disguise as to the real object of his af- 

. ^ Papers^ Vol. 3, p. 262. 



Il6 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

fections, and proceeded at once to declare himself in 
unmistakable terms that permitted no evasion. 

"I usher'd in Discourse," says the Judge, "from the 
names in the Fore-seat; at last I pray'd that Katherine 
[Mrs. Winthrop] might be the person assign'd forme. She 
instantly took it up in the way of Denyal, as if she had 
catch'd at an Opportunity to do it, saying she could not do 
it, before she was asked. Said that was her mind unless 
she should Change it, which she believed she should not; 
could not leave her Children. I express'd my Sorrow that 
she should do it so Speedily, pray'd her Consideration, and 
ask'd her when I should wait on her agen. She setting no 
time, I mentioned that day sennight. Gave her Mr. Wil- 
lard's Fountain open'd with the little print and verses, say- 
ing I hop'd if we did well read that book, we should meet 
together hereafter, if we did not now. She took the Book 
and put it in her Pocket. Took leave." 

The Judge could not wait until the time which he 
had himself appointed, and called again on the next 
Wednesday, but Madam Winthrop was out, and so 
he "gave Katee [her daughter] a peny and a kiss 
and came away." On the next evening he called 
again, but Madam Winthrop was not at home, and 
the Judge endeavored to propitiate the servants by, 
giving "Sarah Chickering the maid 2S," and "Juno,| 
who brought in wood is," and the nurse i8d., "hav- 
ing no other small bill." When Madam Winthrop 
appeared, the Judge again renewed his solicitations 
and "gave her a piece of Mrs. Belcher's Cake and 
Ginger-Bread, wrapped up in a clean sheet of Paper; 
told her of her Father's kindness to me when Treas- 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. II7 

urer, and I Constable. My daughter Judith wasgon 
from me and \ was more lonsom, might help to for- 
ward one another in our Journey to Canaan." But 
the widow remained obdurate. 

The next time he called, she treated him courte- 
ousl}-; but the next time after that he tells us that: 

"She was full of work behind a Stand." Her "Counte- 
nance was much changed from what 'twas on Monday, look'd 
dark and lowering. At last, the work (black stuff or Silk), 
was taken away, I got my Chair in place, had some Con- 
verse but very cold and indifferent to what 'twas before. 
Asked her to acquit me of Rudeness if I drew off her Glove. 
Enquiring the reason, I told her 'twas great odds between 
handling a dead Goat and a living Lady. Got it off." But 
she yielded no farther, although the Judge "told her the 
reason why I came every other night was lest I should 
drink too deep draughts of Pleasure. She had talk'd of 
Canary, her kisses were to me better than the best Canary." 

Nevertheless, the Judge continued to press his 
suit. lie made her presents of books and, with an 
accurate perception of women's tastes, he did not 
forget to give her almonds and other dainties. Once 
he " gave her about 3^ pound of Sugar Almonds, 
cost 3s per £. She seemed much pleas'd with them, 
askM what they cost." 

The Judge's courtship of Mrs. Winthrop did 
not progress so far as to involve the settlement of 
financial questions, though she quizzed the Judge 
about a rumor that she professed to have heard about 
his having given all his property to his children, 
which the Judge vigorously denied. Once she took 



11 8 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

occasion "to speak pretty earnestly" about the 
Judge's "keeping a Coach," she . insisting that 
" 'twould cost but £40," while the Judge contended 
that "'twould cost £100 per annum." 

The Judge found that the widow's moods were 
variable. Sometimes she treated him "with a great 
deal of Curtesy; Wine; Marmalade," and on an- 
other occasion he says that she gave him " a Dram 
of Black Cherry Brandy and gave me a lump of the 
Sugar that was in it." But the widow soon began 
to indicate to the Judge that his courtship was in vain. 
Sometimes she would keep him waiting before she 
came in, and thereupon the Judge would have to 
put in the time reading the Bible and other good 
books; she did not array herself " in Clean Linen as 
Sometimes"; she "offered not to help him " put on 
his great coat when he left; she failed to replenish 
the fire when it burned low; she excused herself 
from sending her servant to light him home, on the 
ground that Juno was tired and had gone to bed, and 
that it was light enough to see without a lantern. 
She also " quoted the Apostle Paul affirming that a 
single life was better than a married," and once she 
was so unkind as to suggest to him his "needing a 
AVigg." 

The Judge's narrative of his last visit on Monday, 
Nov. 7, 1720, is as follows; 

"I went to Mad. Winthrop; found her rocking her little 
Katee in the Cradle. I excus'd my Coming so late (near 
eight). She set me an arm'd Chair and Cusheon; and so 
the Cradle was between her arm'd Chair and mine. Gave 
her the remnant of my Almonds ; She did not eat of them 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. II 9 

as before, but laid them away ; I said I came to enquire 
whether she had alter'd her mind since Friday or remained 
of the same mind still. She said, Thereabouts. I told her 
I loved her, and was so fond as to think that she loved me. 
Sihe said had great respect for me. * * * "pj^g Fire 
was come to one short Brand, besides the Block, which 
Brand was set up in end; at last it fell to pieces, and no 
Recruit was made. She gave me a Glass of Wine. I think 
I repeated again that I would go home and bewail my Rash- 
ness in making more haste than good Speed. I would en- 
deavor to contain myself and not go on to sollicit her to do 
that which she would not Consent to. Took leave of her. 
As came down the steps she bid me have a care. Treated 
me Courteously. * * » j ^jj^^ ^qj- |-)|j j^^j. ^Ji-qyv off her 
Glove as sometime I had done. Her dress was not so 
clean as sometime before it had been. Jehovah jireh." 

The Judge seems by this time to have taken the 
hint, and he did not renew his visits to Madam 
Winthrop, but cast his eyes upon the widow INIartha 
Ruggles, carefully beginning the siege by first writing 
to her brother, Timothy Woodbridge, a letter which 
the editors of the " Letter-Book" pronounce "one of 
the most interesting and certainl}^ one of the most 
characteristic of the whole collection." In this letter 
he says '} 

' ' I remember when I was going from school at Newbury, 
I have sometime met your Sisters Martha, and Mary, at the 
end of Mrs. Noyes's Lane, coming from their Schoole at 
Chandler's Lane, in their Hanging Sleeves; and have had 
the pleasure of Speaking with them : And I could find in 
my heart to speak with Mrs. Martha again, now I my self 

^Letters, Vol. 2, p. 133. 



I20 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

am reduc'd to my Hanging Sleeves. The truth is, I have 
little Occasion for a Wife, but for the sake of Modesty, and 
to cherish me in my advanced years (I was born March 28, 
1652) Methinks I could venture to lay my Weary head in 
her Lap, if it might be brought to pass upon Honest Con- 
ditions. You know your Sister's Age, and Disposition, 
and Circumstances, better than I doe. I should be glad of 
your Advice in my Fluctuations," 

But the widow Ruggles did not look kindly on 
the Judge's suit, and, after having twice proposed to 
her and having been twice rejected, he next wooed 
and won the widow Gibbs, to whom he was married 
on March 29, 1722. 

It should be borne in mind, however, that the rec- 
ord of the courtships of Judge Sewall is the record 
of the courtships of an old man, after the infirmities, 
and some of the follies, of old age had come upon 
him. 

Among people of considerable fortunes, the Eng- 
lish custom prevailed of settling property rights 
and fixing the bride's portion by ante-nuptial agree- 
ments, and in the making of them, as appears from 
Judge Sewall's diary, there was often a good deal 
of what in this age would be looked upon as higgling 
and driving of sharp bargains. 

It is not probable that the marriage portions or 
wedding outfits of the brides were very costl}^ until 
long after the beginning of the commonwealth, and 
not then unless the parents were in far more affluent 
circumstances than the most of their neighbors. 

The tradition is that John Hull, the maker of the 
Pine Tree shillings, gave his daughter her weight in 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAT. LIFE. 121 

them for her wedding portion. But there was only 
one John Hull, and, besides, the tradition is not well 
authenticated. 

Judge Sewall ordered from London a wedding 
outfit for his daughter Judith, which comprised the 
following:^ 

"Curtains & Vallens for a Bed with Counterpane Head 
Cloth and Tester made of good yellow waterd worsted cam- 
let with Triming well made and Bases if it be the Fashion. 
Send also of the Same Camlet & Triming as may be enough 
to make Cushions for the Chamber Chairs. 

"A good fine large Chintz Quilt well made. 

"A true Looking Glass of Black Walnut Frame of the 
Newest Fashion if the Fashion be good, as good as can be 
bought for five or six pounds. 

"A second Looking Glass as good as can be bought for 
four or five pounds, same kind of frame. 

"A Duzen of good Black Walnut Chairs fine Cane with 
a Couch. 

"A Duzen of Cane Chairs of a Different Figure and a 
great Chair for a Chamber ; all Black Walnut 

"One bell-metal Skillet of two Quarts, one ditto one 
Quart. 

"One good large Warming Pan bottom and cover fit for 
an Iron handle. 

"Four pair of strong Iron Dogs with Brass heads about 5 
or 6 shillings a pair. 

"A Brass Hearth for a Chamber with Dogs Shovel 
Tongs & Fender of the newest Fashion (the Fire is to ly 
upon Iron). 

"A strong Brass Mortar That will hold about a Quart 
with a Pestle. 

^Sewall's Letters, Vol. 2, pp. 105-6. 



122 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

"Two pair of large Brass sliding Candlesticks about 4 
shillings a Pair. 

"Two pair of large Brass Candlesticks not sliding of the 
newest Fashion about 5 or 6 shillings a pair. 

"Four Brass Snuffers with stands. 

"Six small strong Brass Chafing dishes about 4 shillings 
apiece. 

"One Brass basting Ladle; one larger Brass Ladle. 

"One pair of Chamber Bellows with Brass Noses. 

"One small hair Broom suitable to the Bellows. 

"One Duzen of large hard-mettal Pewter Plates new 
fashion, weighing about fourteen pounds. 

"One Duzen hard-mettal Pewter Porringers. 

"Four Duzen of Small glass Salt Cellars of white glass; 
Smooth not wrought, and without a foot. 

"A Duzen of good Ivory-hafted Knives and Forks." 

At the Howe Family Gathering in South Fram- 
ingham, Mass., in 1871, there was exhibited a docu- 
ment showing the marriage portion given as late as 
1784 by Nehemiah Howe, then of Vermont but 
formerly of Marlborough, Mass., to his daughter 
Beulah, in which were enumerated the following 
very useful and essential articles: 

£ s. d. 

One cow 3 

A chist of draws 2 

One feather bed 3 10 

8 sheets 4 

2 table cloths 12 

I coverlid I 5 

1 Beed quilt I 5 

2 Beed ticks I 5 

I foot wheel . I 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. 1 23 

£ s. d. 

1 grate wheel 8 

a looking glass 9 

a frying pan 4 

2 tubs 7 

2 tables 9 

4 chars lO 

I pillian 6 

I tramil 7 

I fire place tongs 12 

I tosting iron 3 

a horse 8 

Land in Poultney 10 



31 14 

Scant as was the wedding outfit of Miss Beulah, 
compared with that of Miss Judith, it is probable 
that the former's was far more elaborate than that of 
most of the New England brides, especially in the 
early part of the commonwealth period. 

Mention has been made of the causes for divorce. 
In at least one instance the General Court made the 
singular experiment of trying to compel a husband 
and wife to stick to each other. This was in the 
case of the Rev. Stephen Batchelor, of L3n-in, who, 
when nearly ninety years old, married a third wife. 
Matrimonial troubles followed, and in 1650 the Gen- 
eral Court ordered "that Mr. Batchelor and his wife 
shall lyve together as man and wife, as in this Court 
they have publiquely professed to do, and, if either 
desert one another, then hereby the Court doth order 
that ye Marshall shall apprehend both said INIr. 
Batchelor and Mary, his wife, and bring them forth- 



124 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

with to Boston, here to be kept till the next Quarter 
Court of Assistants." But the frisky octogenarian 
got away, after all, went to England, married an- 
other wife, and persisted in living on. Six years 
later, the disconsolate Mary, having become con- 
vinced apparently that there was no other relief, pre- 
sented her petition to the General Court for a divorce. 

Actions for breach of promise of marriage seem 
to have been rare, but there is a record of one in 
1633, in which it was ordered that "Joyce Brad- 
wicke shall give unto Alex Becke the some of 20s, 
for promising him marriage without her ffriends con- 
sent & now refusing to performe the same."^ 

Doctors. — Doctors do not appear to have been 
very numerous in the early j^ears of the common- 
wealth. The example of Nicholas Knopp probably 
served to intimidate quacks at the outset, for the rec- 
ords show that in 1630 he "is fined 5 £ for takeing 
upon him to Cure the scurvey by a water of noe 
worth nor value, which he solde att a very deare 
rate, to be imprisoned till hee pay his ffine, or give 
security for it, or els to be whipped & shalbe lyable 
to any mans action of whom hee hath received money 
for said water. "^ 

Funerals. — The funeral services were very plain. 
No hearses were used, but a simple coffin containing 
the body was placed upon a bier and borne to the 
grave by carriers, the pall-bearers walking on each 
side, and the mourners following on foot. There 
were no special ceremonies at the grave. No funeral 

^ Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 104. 
*Mass. Rec, Vol. i p. 83. 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. 1 25 

sermon was preached, not even a prayer was offered, \ 
as such a ceremony was supposed to savor too much 1 
of poper}^ 

The somber description which the poet Whittier 
has given of "The Old Burying Ground" would 
probably apply to many others in New England in 
.the olden times : 

" Our vales are sweet with fern and rose, 
Our hills are maple-crowned ; 
But not from them our fathers chose 
The village burying-ground. 

" The dreariest spot in all the land 
To Death they set apart ; 
With scanty grace from Nature's hand, ; 
And none from that of Art. 

" A winding wall of mossy stone, 
Frost-flung and broken, lines 
A lonesome acre thinly grown 
With grass and wandering vines. 



" Low moans the river from its bed, 
The distant pines reply ; 
Like mourners shrinking from the dead, 
They stand apart and sigh, 

" Unshaded smites the summer sun. 
Unchecked the winter blast ; 
The school-girl learns the place to shun, 
With glances backward cast. 



125 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

" For thus our fathers testified, 
That he might read who ran, 
The emptiness of human pride, 
The nothingness of man." 

No costly monuments marked the last resting 
places of the Puritans. If there were any tomb- 
stones at all, they were plain slabs, on some of which 
were graven hideous pictures and hideous rhymes. 
Examples of them can be seen in the Concord cem- 
etery and in many of the old cemeteries in Massa- 
chusetts. 

There was one feature of their funerals, however, 
which grew into such an abuse that the General Court 
deemed it necessary to restrain it by law. This was 
the custom of distributing gloves, scarfs and mourn- 
ing rings among the carriers and pall-bearers, and 
sometimes suits of black clothes to those who could 
not afford to buy thein Afterward it became cus- 
toinary to distribute such presents among the rela- 
tions and attendants. 

The pious but thrifty Judge Sewall, in his diary, 
gives us a partial inventory of his accumulations of 
rings, scarfs and gloves, at the funerals "of some I 
have been a Bearer to."^ To such presents supplies 
of rum were afterward added. 

As an example of the extravagance of funerals the 
following is given, purporting to have been copied 
from the probate records, of the charges for the fun- 
eral of the widow of the Rev. John Norton.^ 

^ Sewall Papers, Vol. i, p. 469. 

^ Lives of the Chief Fathers of New England, Vol. 2, p. 236. 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. 1 27 

"1677-8 Jan. 20. Account of Funeral Charges of Mrs. 
Mary Norton : 
Jan. 20 51 1-2 gallons of best Malaga with cask 

and carriage at £10. 13 £10. 13 

50 1-2 ells of best broad lute string at 

los. ell 25. 5 

Jan. 25 Paidmoney to Wm. and Joseph Gridley 

for opening the tomb I.16 

" 28 Money, Solomon Ransford for coffin 

and plate 1. 18 

" " Gloves 6 doz. pair 5.12-6 

" " do 2 " " 2 

Feb. 5 do 10 " and 3 pair 10. 19-9 

" , 16 do 12 do " 6 do 12.8 

" " do 2 do 10 do 2. 8-2 

73-0-5" 

The Rev. John Cobbet, of Ipswich, died in 1685. 
*'At his funeral were expended one barrel of wine, 
£6.8; two barrels of cider, iis; 82 pounds of sugar, 
£2.1; half a cord of wood, 4s; four dozen pair of 
gloves for men and women, £5.4; with some spice 
and ginger for the cider. "^ 

So expensive did funerals become that at a later 
date (1741) a law was enacted which provided that 
**no scarves, gloves (except six pair to the bearers 
and one pair to each minister of the church or con- 
gregation where any deceased person belongs) wine, 
rum, or rings, be allowed and given at any funeral." 

Rank. — The distinctions which prevailed in En- 
gland were recognized, for a time and to a limited 
extent, among the colonists here. Curiously enough, 

^ Lewis's History of Lynn, p. loi. 



128 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

•this recognition was most manifest and lasted the 
longest in the seating of the congregation in the 
churches. But even there it seems that the assign- 
ment of the best seats was influenced, to a large ex- 
tent, not so much by considerations of birth or rank, 
as it was by determining who paid the most taxes 
for the support of the church. 

The laws as to dress, it is true, made certain ex- 
ceptions in favor of those whose estates exceeded in 
.Tv^alue two hundred pounds, "or any other whose 
education and imployment have been above the ordi- 
nary degree, or whose estate have been considerable, 
though now decayed." It is apparent, however, 
that the chief object of this law was to restrain peo- 
ple from dressing beyond their means, partly on 
their own account and partly for obvious reasons of 
public policy, and that the exception in the last clause 
was a slight concession to those who had seen better 
times in England. The Body of Liberties^ also ex- 
empted from the punishment of whipping "any true 
gentleman" or "any man equall to a gentleman 
* * * unless his crime be very shamefull and 
his course of life vitious and profligate." But there 
is nothing in the laws of the commonwealth that in- 
dicates the slightest tendency toward the perpetua- 
tion of the distinctions founded on birth or rank 
which prevailed in England, or the building up of 
an aristocracy here based on either rank or wealth. 

Nevertheless, there was a scrupulous regard paid 
to the titles, civil, military, or religious, of those bear- 
ing them, and the captains, ensigns, corporals and 

1 No. 43. 



DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. 1 29 

deacons were so mentioned when referring to them. 
The title "Esquire' ' was rarely applied. Even the titles 
"Mr." and "Mrs." were sparingly used, and then, 
generally, in addressing or speaking of ministers and 
distinguished persons. The terms "good man" and 
"sfood wife" were used rather to denote excellence 
of character than superiority of birth or rank. 

It must not be supposed, however, that distinc- 
tions founded on family connections with ancestors of 
distinction or noble birth were entirely ignored. On 
the contrary, they were carefully observed, and the 
famil}^ arms, if there were any, were displayed on 
all suitable occasions. When Mrs. Katherine Win- 
throp was buried, Sewall tells us that "the Escut- 
cheons on the hearse bore the arms of Winthrop and 
Brattle, The Lion Sable," the former being those of 
the family of her last husband, and the latter those 
borne by her brother, Thomas Brattle.^ 

* Sewall Papers^ Vol. 3, p. 363. 
Pur. Rep. — 9 



VI 

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL LIFE 

Laws Against Idleness. — One of the first things 
that engaged the attention of the colonists was to see 
that every man, woman, and child had something to 
do and that it was done. The colonists had no use 
for idlers and shirks. As early as 1633 it was or- 
dered by the General Court that "noe person, howse 
houlder or other, shall spend his time idlely or un- 
proffitably, under paine of such punishment as the 
Court shall thinke meete to inflicte, & for this end it 
is ordered that the constable of every place shall use 
spetiall care & deligence to take knowledge of offend- 
ers in this kinde, espetially of common coasters, un- 
profitable fowlers & tobacco takers and present the 
same &c."^ 

In 1636 an order was made that "all townes shall 
take care to order and dispose of all single persons & 
inmates within their townes to service or otherwise."^ 
By a subsequent law "neglectors of their families" 
were added to the list of idlers. Towns were espe- 
cially enjoined to "take care from time to time, to 
Order and Dispose all single Persons, & inmates 
within there Townes to service or otherwise, and if 

1 Mass. Rec, Vol i, p. 109. 

2 Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 186. 

(130) 



INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL LIFE. 131 

an}' be grieved at such Order or disposall, they have 
Liberty to appeale to the next County Court." The 
selectmen were also required to see that "all parents 
& masters do breed & bring up their children & ap- 
prentices in some honest Lawfull calling, labor or 
imployment, either in husbandry or some other trade, 
profitable for themselves and the commonwealth, if 
the}' will not, or can not train them up in learning to 
fitt them for higher employments." 

By a law passed in 1682, the tithing-men in each 
town were required to return all such idlers to the 
next magistrate who was authorized to set them to 
work '' in or about any employment they are capa- 
ble of," and, if they refused "to be regulated as 
aforesaid," then they were to be sent to the house 
of correction. Other laws designed to promote in- 
dustry will be noted in the following pages. 

Agriculture.^ — ^All grants of land were obtained 
from the General Court. Usually a large body of 
land v/as granted to several proprietors who held it 
at first in common and afterwards made a division of 
it or disposed of it to actual settlers.^ 

The tilling of the soil, both for farms and gardens, 
was, as a matter of course, the chief industry at the 
start. The soil of INIassachusetts was much better in 
the beginning, before it was exhausted by cultiva- 
tion, than it is now. The meadows and the salt 
marshes produced good hay. Wheat did not thrive, 
but Indian corn, rye, oats and most of the fruits and 

* Pa If re J, Vol. i, p. 13; Husbandry in Colony Times, bj Edward 
Eggleston, 5 Century Mag., 431 

* An interesting account of the manner in which the Sudbury lands 
•were divided is given by Mr. Hudson in his History of Sudbury, p. 104. 



132 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

vegetables that are common to-day were soon culti- 
vated and yielded good crops. 

Of domestic animals, swine and poultry were soon 
introduced and rapidly increased. It was more dif- 
ixult to raise sheep on account of the wolves and 
severe winters. Horses and cattle increased until 
I hey soon became abundant. 

Agricultural impleirwents were of the rudest char- 
acter, as they were then in England. Plows were 
scarce, and those used were of the most primitive pat- 
tern. Wheat was reaped with a sickle and threshed 
with a flail. Four-wheeled wagons were unknown, 
and the onl}^ kind of vehicle used in farm work was 
a rude cart. In HIgginson's Catalogue of "needful 
things" for the New England planter he enumerates 
the following "Tools," viz: "i broad hoe; i narrow 
hoe; I broad axe; i felling axe; i steel hand-saw; i 
whip saw; i hammer; i shovel; i spade; 2 augers; 
4 chisels; 2 piercers (stocked); i gimlet; i hatchet." 

A curious law^ for the benefit of the farmers, en- 
acted in 1646, recites that: 

"Because the harvest of Hay, Corn, Hemp and Flax, 
comes usually so near together that much losse can hardly 
be avoided. It is therefore Ordered by the Authority of 
this Court; That the Constables of every town, upon Re- 
quest made to them shall Require any Artificers or handy 
Crafts-men, Meet to Labour, to work by the day for their 
Neighbours in mowing, reaping of corn & inning thereof 
Provided that those men whom they work for, shall duely 
pay them for their Work. And that if any person so Re- 
quired shall Refuse, or the Constable neglect his Office 
^ Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 203. 



INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL LIFE. 1 33 

herein, they shall Each of them Pay to the use of the Poor 
of the Town double so much as such Dayes Work Comes 
unto. Provided no Artificer or Handy-Crafts-Man shall be 
Compelled to Work as aforesayd, for others, whiles he is 
necessarily attending on the like Busines of his Own." 

Another law^ was passed in 1652 for the protection 
of the farmers, prohibiting the importation of "malt, 
wheat, barley, bisket, beife, meal and flower (which 
are the principall Comodityes of this Country) from 
Forreign parts." 

Fishing. — On the sea coast, fishing speedily be- 
came an important industry to supply domestic con- 
sumption and afterwards to supply the demands of 
foreign commerce; and, as commerce grew, ship- 
building also became an important industry. 

Mechanical Trades. — In the mechanical trades, 
carpenters, smiths, bricklayers, joiners and sawyers 
were early in demand, and other artisans soon ap- 
peared, especially in the larger towns. 

Manufactures. — ^Nlills for grinding corn and 
wheat were soon built, and were run either by wind 
or water. Before that the colonists had pounded 
their corn after the fashion of the Indians. 

Tanneries were soon established and several laws 
were enacted to encourage the manufacture of leather. 

The manufacture of salt was also begun at an early 
date. 

A pottery was established at Salem in 1641 and 
iron works at Lynn in 1643, but the latter were 
abandoned. 

Spinning was at first done at home and by a law 

* Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 175. 



134 "^^^ PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

passed in 1655 ^^all hands not necessarily Imployed 
on other occasions, as Women, Girls and Boyes, 
shall and hereby are enjoyned [to Spin according to 
their skill and ability." 

The weaving of woolen and cotton cloths was begun 
at Rowley in 1643. 

Other small manufactories followed, but their 
progress was slow and nothing indicated even the 
beginning of that wonderful manufacturing growth 
in Massachusetts that crowds the banks of the Mer- 
rimac with mills and makes the very earth quiver with 
the vibrations of their machinery. 

Commerce v\^ith other Colonies and Coun- 
tries.^ — Trade between the Massachusetts and Vir- 
ginia colonies began as early as 1 63 1 , the former ex- 
changrino^ beaver and other skins and fish for corn 
and tobacco supplied by the latter. Trade was also 
carried on with the Dutch at New York, the Massa- 
chusetts colonists getting from them sheep, sugar, 
etc., for sack, strong waters, linen cloth, etc. Some 
trade was also carried on with the Mar3^1and colony. 
Johnson^ also mentions trade with England, the Bar- 
badoes, Portugal and Spain. 

Currency.'* — The scarcity of money was soon 
felt, and so early as 1631 it was ordered by the Gen- 
eral Court that " noe planter within the lymitts of 
this jurisdiction returning for England, shall carry 

^ Boston and the Neighboring Jurisdictions, by Charles C. Smith; 
I Mem. Hist, of Boston, p. 275. 

* Wonder- Working Providence. 

^ See Felt's Historical Account of Massachusetts Currency, Sum- 
ner's History of Ajntrican Currency. 



INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL LIFE. 1 35 

either money or beaver with him without leave from 
the Governor."^ 

The scarcity of money was felt more severely after 
the year 1640, after which time, for a long period, 
more people returned to England each year than 
came froin there, and what specie had been accumu- 
lated in trade with other colonies and countries was 
exported or hoarded and silver prices fell accord- 
ingly. 

*' The scarcity of money," says Winthrop, '*" made 
a great change in all commerce. Merchants would 
sell no wares but for ready money, men would not 
pay their debts, though they had enough, prices of 
lands and cattle fell soon to the one-half and less, 
yea to a third, and after one-fourth part."^ 

The Indians whom the colonists found used, as a 
substitute for money, strings or belts of polished 
beads, white made from periwinkle shells and black 
from clam shells. These strings or belts were called 
*'wampum." The colonists used this at first as a 
medium of exchange in their traffic with the Indians 
and then in their dealings with one another, and vari- 
ous laws were passed making wampum a legal tender 
for specified amounts. For a time, musket balls, at 
the rate of a farthing each, were also a legal tender 
for sums under twelve pence. 

In 1 63 1 it was ordered "that corne shall passe for 
payment of all debts at the usual rate it is solde for, 
except money or beaver be expressly named. "^ 
Afterwards, in 1637, it was ordered "that corne 

* Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 93. 
«Vol. 2, p. 18. 

• Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 93. 



136 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

should passe at 5sh. p. bushel in all payments for 
any bargaine hereafter to bee made, until the Courte 
take further course therein."^ In October, 1640, 
it was ordered that " after the last day of this 
month, no man shall be compelled to satisfye any 
debt, legacy, fine, or other payment, in money, but 
satisfaction shall bee accepted in corne, cattle, fish or 
other commodities," at such rates as the General 
Court might from time to time establish, or as might 
be determined by appraisers. This did not apply, 
however, to debts or contracts accrued or made prior 
to the last day of October.^ 

Corn and silver plate were made a legal tender at 
specified prices in payment of taxes,^ and "land, 
houses, corne, cattle, fish, or other commodities" 
were ordered to be accepted at their appraised values 
in satisfaction of executions,* and in 1641 it was or- 
dered that all servants, laborers and workmen "should 
bee content to abate their wages according to the fall 
of the commodities wherein their labors are bestowed, 
and that they should be satisfied with payment in such 
things as are raised by their labor, or other com- 
modities which the country aff cards. "^ 

But some gold and silver were necessary for car- 
rying on the government and foreign trade, and in 
1652 a mint was established at Boston. The law 
authorizing it^ provided for the coinage of " all Bul- 
lion, plate or Spanish Coyn" into "twelve penny, six 

^Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 192. 
2 Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 304. 
' Mass. Rec, Vol. i, pp. 140, 206, 294. 

* Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 307. 

* Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 326. 

6 Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 181. 



INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL LIFE. I37 

penny and three penny peices, which shall be stamped 
with a double Ring on either side with this inscrip- 
tion Massachusets^ & a tree in the center on the 
one side, New England with the year of our Lord, 
and the figure XII. VI. III. according to the Value of 
each peice on the other side," etc. The same law 
prohibited, under heavy penalties, the exportation of 
the money so coined "except twenty shillings for 
necessar}^ expences." The enactment of this law 
was one of the grounds upon which the charter was 
afterwards revoked. The master of the mint was 
John Hull, and the shillings coined were known as 
"Pine Tree" shillings. But despite all the efforts 
to keep it in circulation at home, the new money 
went out of the country or disappeared as fast as it 
was coined, and the barter currency continued to 
the end of the commonwealth, corn, cattle and other 
commodities being made a legal tender for payment 
of taxes and other purposes at specified amounts, 
and, by general consent, being used for almost all 
purposes by the people in their private dealings w^ith 
one another. 

A report was made to the General Court in June, 
1652, upon the project of establishing a bank and 
issuing paper money, but the idea of "fiat" paper 
money w\as not full}^ developed, or, at least, was not 
put in practice, until after the expiration of the com- 
monwealth. On December 10, 1690, the General 
Court ordered the issue of £7,000 in bills of cs. to 
£5. "Thus," says Mr. Felt, "commenced a 
method of furnishing a paper currency, regulated by 

^On the face of the coins this word is uniformly spelled Masathtisets. 



138 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

the government, and conducted by its officers, which 
continued till 1750, excepting some, in bills of 
small denominations, for change, emitted soon after 
that year."^ When the issue of paper money was 
first proposed, one of the strongest arguments against 
it was that the commonwealth had previously pros- 
pered without it, and had paid all its debts, includ- 
ing the enormous expenses of King Philip's war.^ 
The inevitable result followed the unlimited issue of 
paper money; it speedily fell in purchasing power, 
and those whose necessities compelled them to take 
it, and who could least afford the loss, were the 
heaviest losers. 

The corn and other commodities which the colo- 
nists used when money was scarce were not very con- 
venient substitutes for money, but their barter cur- 
rency had an intrinsic value and was better than 
irredeemable paper and was never repudiated. 

Regulating Wages and Prices. — At the first 
meeting of the Court of Assistants in August, 1630, 
the wages of carpenters, joiners, bricklayers, sawyers 
and thatchers were established under penalties for 
taking or giving more than those so established, but at 
the meeting of the General Court in March follow- 
ing, they were "lefte free & set att liberty as men 
shall reasonably agree. "^ In 1633, another order 
was made fixing the wages of "maister carpenters, 
Sawers, Masons, clapboard-ryvers, brickelayers, 
tylars, joyners, wheelewrights, mowers," and other 
workmen, and it was further ordered that "all worke- 

^ An Historical Accoienf of MassacJiusetts Currency, p, 50. 
' Sewall's Letters, Vol. 2, p. 235. 
^ Mass. Rec, Vol. i, pp. 74, 84. 



INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL LIFE. 139 

men shall worke the whole day, alloweing conven- 
ient t3'me for foode & rest."^ 

Repeated efforts were also made by the General 
Court to establish prices. In 1633 a general order 
was made reciting "the greate extortion used by 
divers persons of little conscience," and providing 
that thereafter: 

"Noe person shall sell to any of the inhabitants within 
this jurisdiction any provision, cloathinge, tooles or other 
commodities, above the rate of ffour pence in a shilling 
more than the same cost or might be bought for ready 
money in England, upon paine of forfeiting the valewe of 
the thinge solde (except cheese, which in regard of the 
much hazard in bringing) & wyne, oyle, vinegar & strong 
waters, which in regarde of leaking, may be sold at such 
rates (provided the same be moderate) as the buyer & 
seller can agree. And for lynnen & other commodities, 
which in regard of their close stowage & small hazard, may 
be afforded att a cheap rate, wee doe advise all men to be a 
rule to themselves, in keeping a good conscience, assureing 
them that if any man shall exceede the bounds of modera- 
tion, wee shall punish them severely."* 

In 1634, ^^^ price of corn was " lefte at liberty to 
be solde as men can agree." Soon afterwards its 
price was again fixed by law.^ But again in 1637 
'*the price of corne is set at liberty."* 

The prior laws establishing wages and prices were 
repealed in 1635, and in lieu thereof the following 
law was enacted: 

'Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 109. 

*Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. iii. 

•Mass. Rec, Vol. i, pp. 115, 142. 

* Mass. Rec, Vol. i, pp. 115, 142, 200, 340. 



140 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

" Whereas two former laws, the one concerneing the 
wages of workemen, the other concerneing the prizes of 
commodyties, were for dyvers good considerations repealed 
this present Court, nowe for avoydeing such mischiefs as 
may followe thereupon by such ill disposed persons as 
may take liberty to oppresse & wronge their neighbours by 
takeing excessive wages for worke or unreasonable prizes 
for such necessary merchandizes or other commodyties as 
shall passe from man to man, it is therefore nowe ordered 
that if any man shall offend in any of the said cases against the 
true intent of this lawe, hee shal be punished by ffine or 
imprisonment, according to the quality of the offence, as 
the Court upon lawfuU tryall & conviction shall adjudge."* 

Various entries are found in the records showing 
punishments for violation of the laws against extor- 
tion in wages or prices. Among others, Edward 
Palmer "for his extortion, taking i£ 13s. yd. for 
the plank & woodwork of Boston stocks, is fined 5^ 
& censured to bee set an houre in the stocks," but 
his fine was remitted to los. 

The most noted prosecution for a violation of this 
law was that of Robert Kea3me. He was a Boston 
shopkeeper, and seems to have been a prominent 
citizen, having been a deputy several times in the 
General Court and the first captain of the military 
company of Boston, afterwards known as the An- 
cient and Honorable Artillery. His prosecution is 
very minutely described by Winthrop.^ The case is 
so grotesque in all its details, and is so curious an 
illustration of the times, as to justify more than a 
brief mention. 

^ Mass. Rec, Vol. i, pp. 159, 160; Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 183. 
2 Vol. I, pp. 313-317- 



INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL LIFE. I4I 

lie was charged in the General Court in 1639, "^vith 
many particulars, of oppression in the sale of foreign 
commodities, "in some for taking above six-pence in 
the shilling profit; in some above eight-pence, and, 
in some small things, above two for one and being 
hereof convict (as appears by the records) he was 
fined £200." His offense was considered by the 
General Court to be highly aggravated by the facts. 

"i He being an ancient professor of the gospel; 2 a 
man of eminent parts ; 3 wealthy and having but one 
child; 4 having come over for conscience' sake, and for 
the advancement of the gospel here ; 5 having been for- 
merly dealt with and admonished, both by private friends, 
and also by some of the magistrates and elders, and having 
promised reformation." 

The magistrates seem to have had some doubts. 

' ' I Because there was no law in force to limit or direct 
men in point of profit in their trade. 2 Because it is the 
common practice, in all countries, for men to make use of 
advantages for raising the prices of their commodities. 3 
Because, though he were chiefly aimed at, yet, he was not 
alone in this fault. 4 Because all men through the country, 
in sale of catde, corn, labor, etc., were guilty of the like 
excess in prices. 5 Because a certain rule could not be 
found out for an equal rate between buyer and seller, though 
much labor had been bestowed in it, and divers laws had 
been made, which, upon experience, were repealed, as being 
neither safe nor equal. Lastly, and especially, because the 
law of God appoints no other punishment but double resti- 
tution ; and, in some cases, as where the offender freely con- 
fesseth, and brings his offering, only half added to the prin- 
cipal." 



142 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

Then the church at Boston * 'called him in ques- 
tion" where the accused tried to excuse himself 
chiefly by reason of his having been "misled by some 
false principles" in the law of Christian commerce. 

Of course Mr. Cotton was ready, as he always 
was, with a sermon or a lecture that just fitted the case, 
no matter what it was. It is interestingf to note what 
his views were as to the true rules that should grovern 
in trading. We read: 

" These things gave occasion to Mr. Cotton, in his pub- 
lic exercise the next lecture day, to lay open the error of 
such false principles, and to give some rules of direction in 
the case. 

' ' Some false principles were these : 

" I That a man might sell as dear as he can, and buy as 
cheap as he can. 

"2 If a man lose by casualty of sea, etc., in some of 
his commodities, he may raise the price of the rest. 

" 3 That he may sell as he bought, though he paid too 
dear, etc., and though the commodity be fallen, etc. 

" 4 That, as a man may take the advantage of his own 
skill or ability, so he may of another's ignorance or neces- 
sity. 

" 5 Where one gives time for payment, he is to take 
like recompense of one as of another. 

" The rules for trading were these: 

" I A man may not sell above the current price, i. e., 
such a price as is usual in the time and place, and as an- 
other (who knows the worth of the commodity) would give 
for it, if he had occasion to use it ; as that is called current 
money, which every man will take, etc. 

"2 When a man loseth in his commodity for want of 



INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL LIFE. 1 43 

skill, etc., he must look at it as his own fault or cross, and 
therefore must not lay it upon another. 

" 3 Where a man loseth by casualty of sea, or, etc., it 
is a loss cast upon himself by providence, and he may not 
ease himself of it by casting it upon another; for so a man 
should seem to provide against all providences, etc., that 
he should never lose ; but where there is scarcity of the 
commodity, there men may raise their price ; for now it is a 
hand of God upon the commodity, and not the person. 

"4 A man may not ask any more for his commodity 
than his selling price, as Ephron to Abraham, the land is 
worth thus much." 

Some were very earnest to have Keayne excom- 
municated, but most thought an admonition sufficient, 
and "so in the end, the church consented to an ad- 
monition." 

It was speedily found that the laws regulating 
wages could not be enforced, "for being restrained, 
they would either remove to other places where they 
might have more, or else, being able to live by plant- 
ing and other employments of their own, they would 
not be hired at all."^ So the fixino^ of wagfes was 
referred to the towns, and in this way "by the counsel 
and persuasion of the elders and example of some 
who led the way," the laborers and workmen "were 
brought to more moderation than they could by com- 
pulsion." But even this way "held not long." 
Neither laws nor the "persuasion of the elders" can 
control wages. 

Equally ineffectual were the laws to regulate the 
prices of commodities and the profits of tradesmen, 

* Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 24. 



144 "^^^ PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

One of the principles of trading, which Mr. Cotton 
had so clearly proved by scripture and the example 
of Ephron and Abraham to be a "false principle," 
was "that a man might sell as dear as he can and 
buy as cheap as he can." Nevertheless the people 
persisted in going on in the same old way, and Win- 
throp records (in 1640) that "this evil was very 
notorious among all sorts of people, it being the 
common rule that most men walked by in all their 
commerce, to buy as cheap as they could, and to sell 
as dear."^ 

^ Vol. 2, p. 22. 



VII 
FRONTIER LIFE 

As the towns grew in population and wealth, the 
distinction between town life, especially in Boston, 
and life on the frontier became more and more 
marked. For obvious reasons there have always 
been, as there are to-day, man}- differences between 
urban and rural life. The people in the towns, and 
particularly in Boston, turned their attention large I3' to 
commerce. They amassed wealth faster than those 
in the country and soon had larger and better fur- 
nished houses. Boston was the center of the com- 
inercial, the intellectual, and the literary activity of 
the colony, and all this soon became manifest in the 
tastes and manners of the citizens. The settlers in 
the frontier towns adhered much more strictly, and 
for a much longer period, to the modes of life and 
thought which characterized the early Puritans. They 
did not accumulate fortunes so large, or so easily, as 
men in Boston, and during the commonwealth 
period they did not change greatly in the style of 
their houses, their dress, their manners, or their 
mode of living. 

Almost from the first the colonists began to push 
out their settlements in the direction of the frontier. 
Watertown, about four miles up the Charles River, 

Pur. Rep.— 10 (l4S) 



146 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

was settled in the first year of the colony by Sir 
Richard Saltonstall and his company. It grew 
rapidly in population and soon the inhabitants were 
complaining of "straitness of accomodation and 
want of more meadow," and they began to emigrate 
and to establish new settlements at Dedham, Concord, 
Sudbury and other points. 

In the same way, within twenty years after the 
founding of Sudbury, some of the inhabitants of that 
town petitioned the General Court for permission "^'for 
to make a Plantation" at Marlborough, alleging as 
reasons: 

' ' That whereas your Petitioners have lived divers years 
in Sudbury, and God hath been pleased to increase our 
children, which are now diverse of them grown to man's 
estate; and wee, many of us, grown into years, so that wee 
should bee glad to see them settled before the Lord take us 
away from hence, as also God having given us some con- 
siderable quantity of cattle, so that wee are so straightened 
that we cannot so comfortably subsist as could be desired ; 
and some of us, having taken some pains to view the coun- 
try, wee have found a place which lyeth westward about 
eight miles from Sudbury, which wee conceived might be 
comfortable for our subsistence."! 

No plantation could be established, however, with- 
out permission from the General Court, and the first 
thing to be done was to present a petition and get its 
consent, which was usually given upon the perform- 
ance of specified conditions, as, for example, in the 
grant to the Sudbury petitioners who desired to 
locate at Marlborough, ^'that there be a town set- 

* Hudson, Hist. AfarlborougJt, 26. 



FRONTIER LIFE. 1 47 

tied with twenty or more families within three years, 
so as an able ministry may bee there maintained." 

Usually the next step after granting permission to 
establish a plantation was the appointment by the 
General Court of commissioners to lay off its bound- 
aries. 

As before stated, the General Court recognized the 
Indian title, and all grants of authority to establish 
a plantation were upon the express or implied condi- 
tion that the title of the Indians had been, or should 
be, purchased of them, and, to guard against their 
being imposed upon, it was necessary that such pur- 
chase should also be approved by the General Court. 

Generally a company of proprietors united in the 
purchase of the land, but sometimes a direct grant 
was made by the General Court in payment of some 
debt, or in recognition of some meritorious service or 
claim. 

The next step in the foundation of the plantation 
was the division or allotment of the lands. Generally 
the first allotment was of a few acres to each settler 
for a dwelling place, these lots being small and loca- 
ted close together for the mutual protection of the 
inhabitants. Afterward the ''meadow" land and 
*'wood" land were divided. These divisions, whether 
made before or after the plantation became a town, 
were made with reference to the respective in- 
terests of the proprietors. "Commons," or lands 
for common pasturage, were usually reserved, and 
also lands for "training fields." Such lands as were 
not divided among the proprietors, or reserved by 
them, were sold and the proceeds divided or paid into 



148 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

the common fund. Sometimes grants of land were 
made to encourage the establishment in the settle- 
ment of a grist-mill, a blacksmith shop, or some 
other industry. After the title to a particular parcel 
of land had become vested in some individual, it be- 
came subject to disposal by conveyance or devise and 
to the laws of descent.^ | 

Proximity to the Indians, more than all other 
causes, made life on the frontier far different from what 
it was in Boston and in the towns near it. Durinor 
the whole period of the commonwealth, Indian wars, 
and the apprehension of them, exercised a large in- 
fluence upon the domestic, social, and industrial life 
of the colonists, but more especially of those living 
on the frontier, so that the military features of early 
colonial life were at all times prominent in the frontier 
towns. 

Preparations were early made for the organization 
of the militia. Afterwards militia laws were enacted 
containing minute regulations for raising, organizing 
and equippmg a military force of infantry, calvary 
and artillery. 

Every person above the age of 16 years was re- 
quired to attend military exercises and service, except 
certain government officers, elders and deacons, the^ 
officers and students of Harvard College, school-' 
masters, physicians and surgeons, masters of vessels 
of over 20 tons, fishermen and herdsmen constantly 

^ An elaborate account of the acquisition and division of the lands in 
Sudbur}', with maps showing the location of the roads and house lots, 
will be found in the valuable and interesting history of that town by Mr. 
Alfred S. Hudson. 



FRONTIER LIFE. I jg 

emplo3^ed, and some others who, for bodily infirmity 
or other cause, were wholly or partially excused. 

Two-thirds of every military company were to be 
*' musquetiers, and those which serve with pikes have 
corselets and head pieces." The army of the foot 
soldiers was provided for as follows:^ 

" Every foot souldier shall be compleatly Armed & fur- 
nished, the pikcmen with a good Pike vvel headed, Corselet, 
head peece, sword & snapsack, the Musquetiers with a good 
fixed musquct, not under Bastard Musquet bore, nor under 
three foot nine inches in length, nor above four foot three 
inches long, with a priming wire, worm, scourer and mould, 
fitted to the bore of his Musquet, also with a good sword, 
rest, Banaeleres, one pound of powder, twenty bullets, and 
two fathom of match, upon the penalty of ten shillings for 
every defect; And all other Inhabitants of this Jurisdiction, 
except Magistrates & Elders of Churches, the Pressident, 
Fellowes and Students of Harvard Colledg, shall alwaies be 
provided of Armes, & furnished as aforesaid under the pen- 
alty aforesayd." 

"Troops of horse" were not to exceed 70, be- 
sides the officers. "And every Trooper shall keep 
alwayes a good Horse, and be wel fitted with Sad- 
dle, bridle, holsters, Pistols or Carbines and sword." 

Field artillery would not have been of much use, 
but provision was made for artillery in forts and bat- 
teries. 

There were forts at important points. Every town 
was required to be provided with a " watch-house " 
and a sufficient supply of powder, bullets and match. 

The garrison houses were the places of rendezvous 

* Col. Laws 1660-1672, p. 177. 



ISO 



THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 



in case of expected attack, to which all living near 
them resorted. Sometimes they were built for that 
purpose; at other times they were built as dwelling- 
houses, but so constructed that they could be used as 
garrison houses if necessary. Some of them are 
still in existence. One at Sudbury, the Walker gar- 
rison, is described by Mr. Hudson^ as "a curious 
structure, with massive chimney, large rooms, and 
heavy framework. It is lined within the walls with 
upright plank fastened with wooden pins." 

Military watches or sentinels were set at suitable 
places when danger was apprehended. An alarm 
was given by the sentinel "discharging his musquet 
and crj/ing Arm! Arm! !' ' A general alarm was given 
by "either the distinct dischage of three Musquets or 
the continued beat of the Drum or firing a beacon or 
the discharge of a peece of Ordinance, and two mus- 
quets after it, any of which in the night, shall be 
accounted a generall Alarme, which every souldier is 
immediately to answer by repairing Armed to his 
Colours, or Court of guard, upon the penalty of five 
pounds."^ 

Training fields were usually set apart out of the 
common lands. The one at Sudbury contained nine 
acres. 

Muster days were appointed, varying in frequency 
at different periods. By the militia law contained in 
the revision of 1660, the foot soldiers were to muster 
eight days and the troopers six days in each year. 
When there had ceased to be any actual danger it is 

"^History of Sudbttry, 199. 

* Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 179-80. 



FRONTIER LIFE. I5I 

probable that the training day became the occasion 
for festivities and a sHght relaxation from the rigid 
deportment of ordinary social life. 

The stories told of the life of the settlers, especially 
those on the frontier, during the wars with the In- 
dians, and particularly during King Philip's war, are 
too familiar to justify extended repetition. Mr. 
Hudson^ records an incident which graphically illus- 
trates the life of the pioneer in those days. 

"The 26th of March, 1676, being the day for public wor- 
ship, arrived, 'No rude alarm of raging foes' disturbed the 
quiet of that Sabbath morning. The people assembled at 
the house where prayer was wont to be made, and a fervent 
petition had been offered for their safety and protection. A 
hymn of praise had been sung. Their spiritual leader, the 
Rev. Mr. Brimsmcad, commenced his sermon and was dis- 
pensing to them the word of life when he was interrupted 
by the appalling cry 'The Indians are upon us.' The con- 
fusion and dismay which ensued can be better imagined 
than described. The assembly instantly broke up, and the 
people made for the neighboring garrison, where, with a 
single exception, they all arrived in safety, just in season to 
elude the savage foe." 

But thirteen of their dwellings and eleven barns 
and their meeting-house were burned, their fruit 
trees deadened, and their farms laid waste. 

Even when no war was in progress, the apprehen- 
sion of it, for many years, weighed upon settlers on 
the frontier and gave rise to gloomy forebodings. A 
distant smoke, a strange foot-print, some unusual 
event, interpreted by the superstitious as a "sign, 

^History of Marlborough^ p. 73. 



?> 



152 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

sufficed to make the bravest man anxious and the 
mother to hug her babe closer to her breast. 

We gather from the old town records something 
about the public enterprises which engaged the at- 
tention of the early colonists, the building of meet- 
ing-houses, roads, bridges, pounds, and such other 
matters as would be likely to demand attention of 
those who had settled in a wilderness. 

There were a few millers, carpenters, smiths, and 
other artisans who pursued their vocations. Lum- 
ber and staves were manufactured, as the forests 
were cleared, and the pines yielded some tar. But 
the great mass of the community on the frontier 
tilled the soil. In the early periods, when it was 
necessary to guard the fields against the invasion of 
wild beasts or Indians, it was usual to have common 
planting grounds, which some tilled while others 
stood guard. 

The staple crops were Indian corn, rye, barley^ 
wheat, hay and oats, and some flax and hemp. 

Little of the produce of foreign markets was bought 
in the frontier settlements. What little machinery 
there was, was of the rudest pattern. Almost every- 
thing in the way of farm implements and household 
furniture and clothing that was used was made by 
hand and was made at home. 

When the weather and the season permitted it, the 
father and his boys found work in the forests or in 
the fields. When they could not do this, they were 
making or repairing farm implements or other articles 
of household use. The mother and her daughters 
were doing the household work and making or mend- 



FRONTIER LIFE. I 53 

ing the clothing for the family. The ringing of ax 
and hammer answered the hum of the spinning- 
wheel; all were bus}'; there were no idlers. 

The dwelling-houses were simple and their furni- 
ture scant. Still they were busy hives of industry. 
Mr. Sheldon^ has given us this exquisite picture of 
an "Evening at Flome" in one of these frontier 
dwellings: 

"The ample kitchen was the center of family life, social 
and industrial. Here around the rough table, seated on 
rude stools or benches, all partook of the plain and some- 
times stinted fare. A glance at the family gathered here 
after nightfall of a winter's day may prove of interest. 
After a supper of bean porridge, or hasty-pudding and milk 
which all partake in common from a great pewter basin, or 
wooden bowl, with spoons of wood, horn or pewter; after a 
reverent reading of the Bible, and fervent supplication to 
the Most High, for care and guidance; after the watch was 
set on the tall mount, and the vigilant sentinel began pacing 
his lonely beat, the shutters were closed and barred, and with 
a sense of security, the occupations of the long winter evening 
began. Here was a picture of industry, enjoined alike by 
the law of the land, and the stern necessities of the settlers. 
All were busy. Idleness was a crime. On the settle, or a 
low arm chair, in the most sheltered nook, sat the revered 
grandam — as a term of endearment called granny — in red 
woolen gown, and white linen cap, her gray hair and wrinkled 
face reflecting the bright firelight, the long stocking growing 
under her busy needles, while she watched the youngling of 
the flock, in the cradle by her side. The good wife, in 
linsey woolsey short-gown and red petticoat, steps lightly 
back and forth in calf pumps, beside the great wheel, or 

^History of Deerjield, Vol. i, pp. 279-281. 



154 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

poising gracefully on the right foot, the left hand extended 
with the roll or bat, while with a wheel-finger in the other 
she gives the wheel a few swift turns for a final twist to the 
long-drawn thread of wool or tow. The continuous buzz of 
the flax wheels, harmonizing with the spasmodic hum of 
the big wheel, shows that the girls are preparing a stock of 
linen against their wedding day. Less active and more fit- 
ful rattled the quill wheel, where the younger children are 
filling quills for the morrow's weaving. 

" Craftsmen are still scarce, and the yeoman must de- 
pend largely on his own skill and resources. The grand- 
sire, and the goodman, his son, in blue woolen frocks, 
buckskin breeches, long stockings, and clouted brogans 
with pewter buckles, and the older boys, in shirts of brown 
tow, waistcoat and breeches of butternut-colored woolen 
homespun, surrounded by piles of white hickory shavings, 
are whittling out with keen Barlow jack-knives implements 
for home use; ox-bows and bow-pins, ax-helves, rakestales, 
forkstales, handles for spades and billhooks, wooden shovels, 
flail staff and swingle, swingling knives, or pokes and hog 
yokes for unruly cattle and swine. The more ingenious 
perhaps, are fashioning buckets, or powdering tubs, or 
weaving skepes, baskets or snow shoes. Some, it may be, 
sit astride the wooden shovel, shelling corn on its iron-shod 
edge, while others are pounding it into samp or hominy in 
the great wooden mortar. 

" There are no lamps or candles, but the red light from 
the burning pine knots on the hearth glows over all, repeat- 
ing in fantastic pantomime on the brown walls and closed 
shutters the varied activities around it. These are occa- 
sionally brought into a higher relief by the white flashes, as 
the boys throw handfuls of hickory shavings on to the fore- 
stick, or punch the backlog with the long iron-peel, while 
wishing they had ' as many shillings as sparks go up 
chimney,' Then, the smoke-stained joists and boards of 



FRONTIER LIFE. 1 55 

the celling, with the twisted rings of pumpkin, strings of 
crimson peppers, and festoons of apple, drying on poles 
hung beneath; the men's hats, the crook-necked squashes, 
the skeins of thread and yarn hanging in bunches on the 
wainscot; the sheen of the pewter plates and basins, stand- 
ing in rows on the shelves of the dresser; the trusty fire- 
lock, with powder horn, bandolier and bullet pouch, hang- 
ing on the summertree, and the bright brass warming pan 
behind the bedroom door — all stand revealed more clearly 
for an instant, showing the provident care for the comfort 
and safety of the household. Dimly seen in the corners of 
the room are baskets, in which are packed hands of flax 
from the barn, where, under the flaxbrake, the swingling 
knife and coarse hackle, the shives, and swingling tow have 
been removed by the men ; to-morrow the more deft manip- 
ulations of the women will prepare these bunches of fibre 
for the little wheel, and granny will card the tow into bats, 
to be spun into tow yarn on the big wheel. All quaff the 
sparkling cider, or foaming beer, from the briskly circulat- 
ing pewter mug, which the last out of bed in the morning 
must replenish from the barrel in the cellar." 

In so busy a community as that of the early frontier 
towns, there was little time for play or mere amuse- 
ment. But it must not be inferred that there was an 
unbroken monotony of endless work. There were 
the lecture days, and election days, and muster da3-s, 
when the people came together and enjo3'ed a brief 
respite from hard labor. The town meetings also 
afforded opportunity for social intercourse and the 
excitement of debate from which our forefathers 
gleaned pleasure as well as profit. Much of the 
work that was done was relieved of some of its hard- 
ships by the friendly aid and social concourse of 



156 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

neighbors, as at the clearings, house-raisings, corn- 
huskings and other similar gatherings. 

Sudbury was the 19th town in the colony. It was 
settled in 1638 and was one of the places de- 
stroyed by the Indians in King Philip's war. Its 
early history is probably much like that of all the 
other frontier towns. Mr. Hudson,^ after describing 
the various matters that occupied the attention of the 
early settlers there, mentions a few others that 
helped to alleviate the hardships of the life of the 
early settlers: 

"Besides these experiences there were others that would 
tend to break up the monotony of the settlers' experience, 
such as 'log-rollings,' when the neighbors collected together 
and helped clear the land of logs and brush; house-raisings, 
where many joined hands to help raise the heavy frames ; 
road-breaking, when, with ox-teams, they cleared the snow 
from the path; corn-planting, in the common fields, or 
huskings, when the corn was gathered ; these with town- 
meetings and an occasional drill of the train-band, when 
Bryan Pendleton exercised his little host, would serve to 
break up the monotony and enliven the scene at the settle- 
ment." 

Notwithstanding the difficulties and dangers un- 
der which they labored, the results of Puritan in- 
dustry and thrift were plainly visible in the frontier 
settlements at the beginning of King Philip's war. 
Numerous villages dotted the landscape, and around 
them were well cultivated farms with fruitful or- 
chards, comfortable houses, well filled barns and an 
abundance of stock. 

^History Sudbury, p. 82. 



FRONTIER LIFE. I57 

We have evidence of what had been accomplished 
in the frontier settlements up to the date of King 
Philip's war in the early town and probate records, 
which show the growth of population, the ratings for 
taxation and the valuation of the estates of dece- 
dents. Thomas Eames, of Framingham, whose 
property was nearly all destroyed by the Indians in 
King Philip's war, petitioned the General Court for 
relief, and his petition was accompanied by an in- 
ventory of his loss, which gives us a fair idea of the 
kind and value of the property of a prosperous 
farmer of that period. The inventory is as follows:* 

"An inventory of the loss of Thomas Eames, when his 
house was fired by Indians at Framingham near unto Sud- 
bury, in the county of Middlesex, the first of February, 
1675-6: 

Imprimis — A wife and nine children. 
Item — A house 34 feet long, double floores, and garret, and 
cellar, and a barn 52 foot long, leantir'd one side and 

two ends £100.00 00 

t. 4 oxen 024.00 00 

t. 7 cows, fair with calf 028.00 00 

t. 2 yearlings 003 .00 00 

t. I bull 002.00 00 

t. 2 heifers, fair with calf 006.00 00 

t. I heifer 002.00 00 

t. 8 sheep, fair with lamb 003 . 1 2 00 

t. 30 loads of hay in ye barn at 8s. per load. 012.00 00 

t. 10 bush, wheate, at 6s. p. bush 003.00 00 

t. 40 bush, rye, at 4s. 8d. p. bush 008.00 00 

t. 210 bush, of Indian, at 3s. p. bush. . .. . . 03 i .00 00 

t. Hemp and flax, in ye barne OOI .00 00 

* Barry's Hi'sl. of Framingham, p. 27. 



ic8 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

It. Fire arms, with other arms and ammuni- 
tion £006.00 GO 

It. Butter 20s., cheese 40s., 2 barrels and a 

half Pork, and 4 flitches of bacon 10 lb. 013.00 00 

It. Carpenter's and joyner's tooles 005.00 OO 

It. 2 great spinning wheeles and 2 small 

wheeles, 4s., 4 for cards 001 .00 00 

It. 6 beds, 3 of them feather beds, and 3 

flock, 6 Ruggs, 12 blankets 005.00 00 

It. I chest of lynen with ye sheets and shifts. 010. 00 00 
It. A livery cupboard with what was in it. . . 002.00 00 
It. My wife's lynen and wearing apparel, and 
children's cloathing, and my own cloath- 
ing, with clothing that was my former 

wife's 025 .00 00 

It. Pewter, brasse, and Iron ware 014.00 00 

It. Churns and other dairy vessells, with other 

wooden lumber 005 .00 00 



Total 330.12.00" 

Even at this day, after all that has been said about 
the austere life of the Puritans and the sympathy that 
has been wasted upon their gloomy surroundings and 
the absence of "child life," it is not susceptible of 
proof that the community would have been better off 
in any way, or that the people and their children would 
have been happier, if they had devoted to card-play- 
ing and horse-racing and other pastimes any con- 
siderable portion of the time which they employed in 
useful pursuits. 

Much that the settlers on the frontier had accumu- 
lated was swept away during King Philip's war. 
But after its close they immediately set to work to 



FRONTIER LIFE. 



159 



restore their shattered fortunes, with the same energy 
that had characterized their efforts in the beo-innino- 

During all this period, while undergoing the ardu- 
ous and incessant trials and dangers of frontier life, 
the men on the frontier did not fail to attend closely 
to the moral and intellectual needs of the communi- 
ties which they had founded, and invariably almost 
their first care, after they had provided a shelter for 
themselves, was to establish churches and school- 
houses. 

Nor were they intimidated by the dangers which 
beset them. Indeed these very dangers seemed to 
have a fascination that lured them on. The}^ were 
constantly pushing into the wilderness and setting the 
outposts of civilization farther and farther away. A 
hundred years after the end of the commonwealth 
the descendants of the Massachusetts Puritans, under 
the lead of Gen. Rufus Putnam, boldly plunged into 
the far distant western wilderness, and at Marietta, 
on the banks of the Muskingum, stamped upon the 
Northwest Territory the impress of New England 
civilization. 



VIII 
THE PURITAN SABBATH 

A GREAT deal has been written about the Sabbath 
in New England and the manner in which the day 
was observed, the meeting-houses, the ministers and 
other kindred topics.^ 

The Sabbath or Lord's day practically began at 
sundown on Saturday night, and, in order to make 
"due preparation for the Sabbath," persons were 
forbidden, after sunset, "to walk & Sport them- 
selves in the streets or fields," or to be "in any house 
of publick entertainment (unless strangers or So- 
journers in their Lodgings) ." This prohibition seems 
to have been specially aimed at "youths" and 
"mayds."^ 

In the most beautiful of all his poems Burns tells 
of the "Cotter's Saturday Night," the gathering to- 
gether of the "bairns," the affectionate family greet- 
ings, the father's admonition: 

"Their master's an' their mistress's commands, 
The younkers a' are warned to obey; 
An' mind their labours vvi' an eydent hand, 
An' ne'er, tho' out o' sight, to jauk or play: 

* See Alice Morse Earle's, The Sabbath in Puritan New England; 
The Ne%v England Meeting-House arid the Wren Church, by A. R. 
Willard, i New Eng. Mag. N. S., p. 497; The Puritan Minister, by T. 
W. Higginson, 12 Atl. Month. 269. 

^Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 190. 

(160) 



THE PURITAN SABBATH. l6l 

''An' O! be sure to fear the Lord alway ! 

An' mind your duty, duly, morn an' night! 
Lest in temptation's path ye gang astray, 

Implore His counsel and assisting might : 
They never sought in vain, that sought the Lord aright.' " 

Then the frugal supper that " crowns their simple 
board," and after that the Bible lesson: 

"The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face, 

They, round the ingle, form a circle wide; 
The sire turns o'er, wi' patriarchal grace. 

The big ha'-Bible, ance his father's pride; 
His bonnet rev'rently is laid aside, 

His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare; 
Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide, 

He wales a portion with judicious care; 
And 'Let us worship God!' he says, with solemn air." 

And then the prayer: 

"Then kneeling down, to Heaven's Eternal King, 

The saint, the father, and the husband prays ; 
Hope 'springs exulting on triumphant wing,' 

That thus they all shall meet in future days : 
There ever bask in uncreated rays, 

No more to sigh, or shed the bitter tear, 
Together hymning their Creator's praise. 

In such society, yet still more dear: 
While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere." 

And then the retiring for the night: 

"Then homeward all take off their sev'ral way; 
The youngling cottagers retire to rest: 
Their parent-pair their secret homage pay, 
And proffer up to Heaven the warm request, 
Pur. Rep. — ii 



1 62 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

That He, who stills the raven's clam'rous nest, 

And decks the lily fair in flow'ry pride, 
Would, in the way His wisdom sees the best. 

For them and for their little ones provide ; 
But, chiefly, in their hearts with grace divine preside." 

With honest pride the poet says: 

"From scenes like these, old Scotia's grandeur springs, 
That makes her lov'd at home, rever'd abroad: 
Princes and lords are but the breath of kings, 

'An honest man's the noblest work of God' ; 
And certes, in fair virtue's heav'nly road, 

The cottage leaves the palace far behind ; 
What is a lordling's pomp? a cumbrous load, 

Disguising oft the wretch of human kind, 
Studied in arts of Hell, in wickedness refin'd!" 

Nearly all this might apply in describing Saturday 
night in an earl}^ New England household. But some 
of the most charming passages in the poem would not 
apply, those in which the poet describes the coming 
of the bashful swain to woo the cotter's daughter, 

"Their eldest hope, their Jenny, woman grown. 
In youthfu' bloom, love sparklin' in her e'e." 

"Wi' kindly welcome, Jenny brings him ben; 

A strappan youth; he taks the Mother's eye; 
Blythe Jenny sees the visit's no ill ta'en 

The Father cracks of horses, pleughs and kye. 
The youngster's artless heart o'erflows wi' joy. 

But blate, an' laithfu', scarce can weel behave; 
The Mother, wi' a woman's wiles, can spy 

What makes the youth sae bashfu' and sae grave ; 
Weel pleas'd to think her bairn's respected like the lave." 



THE PURITAN SABBATH. 1 6 



O 



We would not lose our own Priscilla, nor part 
with the exquisite poem that tells of the wooing of 
John Alden. At the same time we can all rejoice 
that the Scottish maid lived in Presb3'terian Scot- 
land, for, if she had lived in Puritan Massachusetts, 
there would have been no Saturday night " court- 
ing:, " and one of the most beautiful of Scottish 
poems would have lost its sweetest charm. When 
the shades of Saturda}^ night fell upon the Massa- 
chusetts commonwealth, all work, all traveling, all 
merriment, had ceased. They fell upon a land where 
all was hushed and quiet, upon a people giving 
themselves up, whether willing or unwilling, to but 
one thought — the preparation for the Lord's Da3^ 

From sunrise to sunset of the Lord's Day there 
was scarcely anything lawful to be done except to go 
to church. No " servile " work was to be done, and 
*' uncivilly walking in the streets and fields, travail- 
ing from town to town, going on Ship-board, fre- 
quenting common houses, and other places to drink, 
Sport, or otherwise to mispend that precious time," 
were expressly forbidden.^ 

Some of the ministers seem to have had doubts as 
to whether it was lawful to be born on that day, for 
we hear of one who had such conscientious scruples 
on the subject that he refused to baptize children 
"which were so irreverent as to be born on the Sab- 
bath." But he was a bachelor. Another, afflicted 
with like conscientious scruples, was effectually cured 
by having twins born to him on the Sabbath.^ 

Absence from church serv^ice without just and 

*Col. Laws 1662-1670, p. 189-190. 
-* Hudson's Hist. Marlborough, 51. 



164 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

reasonable cause was a finable offense.-^ And, in 
order to prevent any shirking, the constables 
were specially enjoined on the Lord's Day to 
''duely make search throughout the limits of their 
Townes" for absentees, and, during the time when 
services were being held, "all Taverners, Victuallers 
and Ordinaries, that are within one Mile of the Meet- 
ing-house," were required to "Cleer their houses of 
all persons able to go to meeting."^ 

In their pious fervor for the observ^ance of Sunday 
the towns were enjoined "to restraine all Indians that 
shall come into their townes from Prophaning the Lords 
Day." One Sunday during King Philip's war the 
Indians went to church at Marlborough but they left 
the meeting-house in ashes. Such is the irony of 
fate. Who can tell what thoughts lurked in the deep 
recesses of the savage mind ? Of those who stood by 
the burning pile perhaps there may have been some 
who had been compelled to go there to hear the Rev. 
Mr. Brimsmead preach and to sit there for hours,, 
watching the turning over of the hour-glass and wait- 
ing for the sermon to come to an end. Perhaps some 
of them had been put in the stocks because they 
would not go to church. If so, it is not improbable 
that the recollection of their sufferings may have 
added to the zeal with which they plied the flaming 
torch. 

None of the laws were more rigorously enforced 
than those intended to prevent the " prophaning " of 
the Lord's Day. The old records are full of con- 
victions for violation of them and sentences of the 

^ Col. Laws 1662-1670, p. 148. 
*Col. Laws 1660-1672, p. 166. 



THE PURITAN SABBATH. 165 

culprits to be fined, whipped, or set in the stocks. 
Miss Earle relates^ how '' Captain Kimble, of Bos- 
ton, was in 1656 set for two hours in the public 
stocks for his ' lewed and unseemly ' behaviour, which 
consisted in his kissing his wife ' publicquely ' on the 
Sabbath Day, upon the door step of his house, when 
he had just returned from a voyage after an absence 
of three years." But here the Captain had been 
guilty of a double offense; he had not only '' pro- 
phaned" the Lord's Day, but he had kissed his 
wife in public, and such flagitious conduct was too 
shocking to be winked at. He was lucky to get off 
with an hour only for each offense. 

The meeting-house was a prominent feature in 
every town. The oldest church in New England, 
which has continously been used for that purpose, is 
said to be the one at Hingham, Mass. It was built 
in 1 68 1. 2 The first meeting-houses were simple 
structures. They served in early times not only as 
places for holding religious services, but as town 
houses for transacting the business of the town. 
These were gradually superseded by square wooden 
buildings, surmounted with a belfry, if the congre- 
gation could afford a bell. Usually in front of ''the 
meeting-house were placed the public stocks and 
the whipping post. 

Until long after the commonwealth period there 
were no fires of any kind in the meeting-houses, but 
foot-warmers were used by those who could afford 
them. The Hingham church was not heated until 
nearly one hundred and fifty years after it was built, 

' The Sabbath in Puritan Netv England, p. 247. 

2 A. R. Willard in i New Eng. Mag., Vol. i, N. S. 497. 



1 66 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

and no stove was used in it until 1822. No stove 
was put in the meeting-house at Deerfield until 1808. 

It is not improbable that the story told by the Rev. 
Henry Ward Beecher about the introduction of a 
stove in the church at Litchfield, Conn., would apply 
with some variations to other localities. The story is 
that the next Sunday after the stove was set up in the 
church happened to be a warm day and no fire v/as 
lighted. But one good lady, a deacon's wife, who 
was violently opposed to the introduction of the 
stove thought that there was fire in it, and she became 
so overheated by her own imagination that she fainted 
and had to be carried out of the church. A little 
later a member who was greatly in favor of stoves 
came in. He, too, thought there was a fire in the 
stove, and he made straight for it and stood before it, 
carefully disposing the skirts of his great coat to avoid 
getting them scorched, and warming his hands with 
great and evident satisfaction. This was too much 
for even the most Puritanical congregation, and, for 
the moment, it lost all its wonted gravity and decorum. 

The pulpits were usually nothing more than high 
desks. On them stood an hour-glass which was 
turned as occasion required. Sometimes a sound- 
ing-board hung over or behind the pulpit. In front 
of the pulpit were the seats for the elders and in front 
of these the seats for the deacons. The pews in the 
first meeting-houses were rude benches and were not 
cushioned. 

After the construction of the meeting-house the 
next thing was to assign the seats among the congre- 
gation. This was called "seating the meeting-house" 



THE PURITAN SABBATH. 1 67 

and was done by a committee with scrupulous regard 
to the rank and wealth of the members of the con- 
gregation. This made it necessary also to "dignify 
the meeting-house," that is to affix the relative rank 
or dignity of the seats. This was a most important 
matter. Sometimes a town meeting was called and 
"seaters" were chosen. Thus at Deerfield in 1701, 
five seaters were chosen and then the meeting pro- 
ceeded to vote: 

"That ye fore seat in ye front Gallery shall be equall in 
dignity with ye 2nd seat in ye Body of ye meeting house 

"That ye fore seats in ye side Gallerys shall be equall in 
dignity with ye 4th seats in ye Body of ye meeting house. 

"That ye 2nd seat in ye front Gallery and ye hinde seat 
in ye front Gallery shall be equall in dignity with ye 5th 
seat in ye Body of ye meeting house," etc.^ 

Of course the chief of the officials in the church 
organization was the minister. Mr. Higginson's de- 
scription of the "Puritan minister" is so graphic and 
complete that it would be vain to attempt to add to 
it. Sometimes the minister had an assistant who 
read and expounded the Bible selection preceding the 
sermon. 

If a visiting minister preached, the ruling elder, 
after the singing of the Psalm, made the announce- 
ment in this wise: " If this present brother hath an}'- 
word of exhortation for the people at this time, in 
the name of God let him say on."^ 

^Sheldon's His. Deerfield, Vol. i, p. 205. In the same volume is given 
a plan, adopted at a later date, showing the relative " dignities " of the 
seats. 

* Hutchinson, Vol. i, p. 376, 



1 68 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

To preach a sermon not composed by the preacher 
himself was considered a far more heinous offense 
than it is now. Nor was the preacher allowed to use 
any notes "for the helpe of his memory, for such 
things they say smell of Lamp Oyle, and there must 
be no such unsavery perfume admitted to come into 
the congregation."^ 

There was one official who, during the religious 
services, stood next to the minister, in importance, if 
not in rank. That was the tithing-man, who on the 
Sabbath acted as a sort of church policeman.^ It 
would be a great mistake to suppose that he was a 
superfluous church ornament. It was his special 
province to look after the sleepers and the boys. The 
prayers were sometimes long and so were the ser- 
mons, and not infrequently, but especially on a hot 
day, their soporific qualities were such as to put some 
of the congregation to sleep. Then the tithing-man 
went around vigorously poking the male snorers 
with his tithing rod. But sometimes a tithing-man 
was gentle or gallant enough to fasten a foxtail or a 
hare's foot or a feather on one end of the rod and with 
this he softly brushed the faces of the fair sex and 
brought them from the realm of dreams to a realiza- 
tion of the solemn truths which the minister was 
laboring to expound. 

But to the boys, tucked away in the galleries and 
on the pulpit steps, the tithing-man was an awful and 
awe-inspiring personage. The plaint of some modern 
writers is calculated to convey the idea that their 
somber surroundings had sapped all the characteris- 

1 Morton Ne-M English Canaan^ p. 115; Force's Hist, Tracts, Vol. 2_ 
* Hudson's Hist, Marlborough, 241, 



THE PURITAN SABBATH. 1 69 

tics of childhood out of the Puritan boys. This is 
largely exaggeration. The Puritan boys were strong, 
active, health}^, smart, and full of vitality, and there 
is abundant evidence that it required the most heroic 
exertions of the church officials to keep them in sub- 
jection. But woe unto the boy who chanced to turn 
his gaze for a moment from the pulpit to a cunning 
little fly crawling on the wall, or a stray butterfly 
flitting across the church. Instantly the dreadful 
tithing-man pounced down upon him, and, with a 
sharp rap over the head with the hard end of his rod, 
taught him the sinfulness of inattention with such 
emphasis that the lesson was not likely to be soon 
forgotten. 

Until the congregation became able to afford a bell 
it was summoned b}^ the beating of a drum or the 
blowing of a horn. On the frontiers, whenever 
there was any ground for apprehending danger of an 
attack by the Indians, the men went to church fully 
armed. 

When the people arrived at the meeting-house the 
men took seats on one side and the women on the other. 
The boys were seated upon the steps of the pulpit or 
in the galler}'. The services were usually conducted 
in the following order: first there was a prayer by 
the minister; then the minister or the teaching elder 
read and explained a chapter from the Bible; then 
followed the singing of a psalm which was lined out 
by the ruling elder, and next the sermon; after the 
sermon there was another prayer and then the bene- 
diction.* 

^ See Lechford's Nczves from Ne~M Ettg., 3 Mass. His. Coll., 3d Ser., 76. 



170 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

It is doubtful if instrumental music of any kind 
was in general use in the church services during the 
commonwealth period. Fiddles seem to have been 
the first musical instruments introduced into the 
church music, but strenuous opposition was mani- 
fested to this innovation, and we hear of one in- 
stance where the qualms of the congregation were 
pacified only by playing the fiddle upside down. 

Judge Sewall visited England in 1695, ^^d, while 
there, attended church, but was much disturbed by 
the organ. He writes: " I am a lover of musick to a 
fault, yet I was uneasy there; and the justling out of 
the Institution of Singing Psalms, by the boisterous 
Organ, is that which can never be justified before 
the great master of Religious Ceremonies."^ 

Before the introduction of the ' ' Bay Psalm Book ' ' 
the singing was probably from the version of the 
Psalms by Ainsworth or that of Sternhold and Hop- 
kins. But in 1640 the '' Bay Psalm Book," the pro- 
duction of several of the ministers, was printed and 
was in general use for a hundred years. The fol- 
lowing version of the first and second verses of the 
first Psalm will give some idea of the poetry. 

1 O blessed man that on the advice 
of wicked doeth not walk 

nor stand in sinners way nor sit 
in chayre of scornful folk. 

2 But in the law of Jehovah 
is the longing delight 

and on his law doth meditate 
by day and eke by night. 
^ Sewall's Letters^ Vol. i, p. 155. 



THE PURITAN SABBATH. I71 

Of course it must have required a great deal of 
piety to endure such poetry. It devolved on some 
one to set the tune, and this was not always an easy 
task, especially with such psalms as were in use. 
With the accurateness and simplicity which character- 
ize all the entries in his diary, the good Judge Sewall 
several times records the distressing dilemma in 
which he found himself when he could get no one 
else to set the tune, and was obliged to set it himself: 

" Feb 2 Lords Day. In the Morning I set York Tune 
and in the 2d going over the Gallery carried it irresistably 
to St. Davids, which discouraged me very much. I spake 
earnestly to Mr. White to set it in the Afternoon but he de- 
clines it." 

And again: 

" Sabbath, Oct. 25. Capt. Frary's voice failing him in 
his own Essay, by reason of his Palsie, he calls to me to 
set the Tune, which accordingly I doe; 17, 18, 19, 20, 
verses 68th Psalm, Windsor Tune; After the Lord's Sup- 
per, 6, 7, 8, 9, verses i6th Low-Dutch. P. M. 2^ staves 
of 141. Ps. St. Davids, Jehova, I upon Thee call. After 
Evening Exercise, 2d part 84th Ps. Litchfield; I knew not 
that had the Tune till got to the 2d Line, being somewhat 
surprized, though design'd that Tune. I would have as- 
sisted Capt. Frary but scarce knew what Tune he design'd; 
and the Tune I guess 'd at, was in so high a Key that I 
could not reach it."* 

Sometimes there was a small building near the 
meeting-house, called the " noon-house," where such 
of the congregation as resided at a considerable dis- 

*Sewall's Papers, Vol. 3, p. 164, i /V/. 351. 



172 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

tance from the meeting-house could go during the 
noon intermission and eat their dinners and warm 
themselves if the weather was cold. After dinner 
services were had of the same kind as before. At 
the end of the afternoon service the collection was 
taken up — the method of which is thus described by 
Lechford.^ 

"Which ended, follows the contribution, one of the 
Deacons saying, ' Brethren of the congregation, now there 
is time left for contribution, wherefore as God hath pros- 
pered you, so freely offer.' Upon some extraordinary oc- 
casion, as building and repairing of Churches or meeting- 
houses, or other necessities, the Ministers presse a libberall 
contribution, with effectuall exhortations out of Scripture. 
Then Magistrates and chiefe Gentlemen first, and then the 
Elders, and all the congregation of men, and most of them 
that are not of the Church, all single persons, widows and 
women in absence of their husbands, come up, one after 
another, one way, and bring their offerings to the Deacon 
at his seate, and put it into a box of wood for the purpose, 
if it bee money, or papers; if it be any other chattle they 
set it or lay it downe before the Deacons, and so passe an- 
other way to their seats againe. This contribution is of 
money or papers promising so much money. I have scene 
a faire gilt cup with a cover, offered there by one, which is 
still used at the Communion. Which moneys and goods 
the Deacons dispose towards the maintenance of the Min- 
isters and poore of the Church and the Churches occasions, 
without making account, ordinarily." 

The religious services having been concluded, the 
congregation dispersed and the members wended 

^ Nerues from Neiv England; Mass. Hist. Coll., 3 Ser., Vol. 3, p. 77. 
See also Josselyn's Tt.vo Voyages^ p, iSo. 



THE PURITAN SABBATH. I 73 

their way to their respective homes — returning as they 
had gone, on horseback and on foot, sometimes travel- 
ing midst howhng wintry blasts through miles of un- 
broken forests, crossing swollen streams, trudging 
through deep and trackless snows, the man with rifle 
in hand and ear alert for savage foes, the mother 
hugging to her breast her babe; such was church- 
going in the times of our forefathers and such were 
the men and women who went to church! 



IX 
EDUCATION, BOOKS AND LITERATURE 

In 1642, before schools were provided by law, 
it was enjoined upon the selectmen to see that none 
of their brethren and neighbors "shall suffers© much 
barbarism in any of their families as not to endeav- 
our to teach, by themselves or others, their children 
& apprentices, so much learning, as may enable them 
perfectly to read the english tongue & knowledg of 
the Capital laws."^ In 1654, towns having 50 house- 
holders were required to establish schools for teach- 
ing children to "Write & Read," and in towns of 
100 householders they were required to "set up a 
Grammar school, the Master thereof, being able to in- 
struct youth so far as they maybe fitted for the Unever- 
sety." The selectmen in each town were admonished 
to see that no teachers were employed "that have man- 
ifested themselves unsound in the faith, or scandalous 
in their lives & have not given satisfaction according 
to the Rules of Christ. "^ 

The General Court in 1636 "agreed to give £400 
towards a schoale or colledge, whearof 200 £ to bee 
paid the next yeare, & 200 £ when the worke is fin- 
ished, & the next Court to appoint wheare & what 
building." At the next General Court "ThecoUedg 

*Col. Laws 1660-1672, p. 136. 
*Col. Laws 1660-1672, p. 191. 

(174) 



EDUCATION, BOOKS AND LITERATURE. I 75 

is ordered to bee at Newetowne," afterward called 
Cambridge, and in 1638, it was ordered "that the 
colledge agreed upon formerly to bee built at Cam- 
bridof shalbee called Harvard Colledo'e."^ This was 
the beginning of Harvard College, which subsequently 
continued to receive the favor and support of the 
General Court. Mr. Fiske well says:^ 

"The act was a memorable one, if we have regard to all 
the circumstances of the year in which it was done. On 
every side danger was in the air. Threatened at once with 
an Indian war, with the enmity of the home government 
and with grave dissensions among themselves, the year 
1636 was a trying one, indeed, for the little community of 
Puritans, and their founding a college by public taxation, 
just at this time, is a striking illustration of their unaltera- 
ble purpose to realize in this new home their ideal of an 
educated Christian society."^ 

There was a book-store in Boston as early as 1652, 
and in 1686 there v^-ere eight such stores. The min- 
isters were the best customers, and it is to be pre- 
sumed that most of the books sold were of a religious 
character. 

There were some extensive private libraries. John 
Dunton, a London bookseller, who visited Cotton 
Mather in 1686, about the time when he was finish- 
ing his "Magnalia," speaks of his library as "very 

* Mass. Rcc, Vol. i, pp. 183, 20S, 253. 

* Beginnings of New Eng., 1 1 1. 

'Hutchinson, Vol. i, p. 444, gives "The Theses of the First Class of 
Graduates at Harvard College in 1642," together with the Latin names 
of the nine graduates, viz: Benjamin Woodbrigius, Georgius Downin- 
gus, Gulielmus Hubbardus, Henricus Saltonstall, Johannes Bulkleius, 
Johannes Wilsonus, Nathaniel Brusterus, Samuel Bellinghamus, Tobias 
Bernardus. 



176 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 






large," but adds a mild criticism of the ''Magnalia 
which now commands universal assent, that "had 
his books been fewer when he writ his history 'twould 
have pleased us better." Of the kinds of books 
contained in the libraries of those days we may get 
some idea from the account given by Mr. Weeden^ 
of the library of John Winthrop: 

"His library of 269 titles is preserved in the alcoves of 
the Society Library in New York. Some of the titles are 
interesting ; there are a few Latin classics and no Greek ; in 
English there are many works on the occult philosophy and 
many on medicine, Winthrop practiced it extensively. We 
find Cornelius Agrippa, Aristotle, Aquinas, Erasmus, 
Grotius, in i2mo, on 'True Religion'; Mach'iaveWi ,' Contra 
Tyrannos,' in i8mo, was hardly as useful in the new colony 
as Blundevill on Horses. An abridgement of Coke helped 
out Godwyn's 'Civil and Ecclesiastical Rites of the Hebrew' ; 
Jamblichus with Lullie Rayimindi, alternate with Sir George 
Mackenzie on 'Moral Gallantry.' Two books by Melanc- 
thon; none by Luther; three by Paracelsus, one containing 
a note of Winthrop's ; a few on mathematics. Flammel on the 
'Philosopher's Stone,' etc., is a type of many volumes. 
Pascal is represented by ^ Les Provinciales ,' in i2mo, William 
West, 4to, London, 1598, on 'Symboleography,' was easier 
to seventeenth century readers than to us. Astrology is 
well represented cheek by jowl with anti-papal and theo- 
logical treatises. Sciidey, 'Curia Politiae.^ William Potter's 
'Key to Wealth', a folio tract of 1650, we shall hear of 
again." 

In the Proceedings of the Massachusetts His- 
torical Society^ is given a catalogue of Elder Brew- 

^ Economic and Social History of Ne-w Eng., Vol. I, pp. 230-I. 
*Vol.5, 2d Ser., pp. 37-85. 



EDUCATION, BOOKS AND LITERATURE. 1 77 

ster's librar}^, as contained in an inventory taken in 
May, 1644, and recorded in Plymouth colony "Book 
of Wills." The communication is by Dr. Dexter, who 
says that the library contained in all 400 separate 
books, of which 393 were separately catalogued; of 
these there were 48 folios, 177 quartos, 121 octavos. 
There were in Latin, 62; in English, 302. Classified 
according to subjects, there were 98 expository, 63 
doctrinal, 69 practical religious, 24 historical, s6 edu- 
cational, 6 philosophical, 14 poetical, 54 miscella- 
neous. 

Judge Sewall was a great buyer of books and gave 
many of them to his friends. One of his letters, writ- 
ten to Mr. John Love of London in 1700, gives 
us some idea, not only of his books, but of the cost 
of them. In this letter he directs Mr. Love 

"To call upon my good friend and Neighbour Mr. Ed- 
ward Bromfield for the money, which is in a little Linen 
Purse marked with Ink J. L. The contents inclosed, and 
are Gold F'our arabian pieces. One double pistoll, Two 
Single ditto, One Lewi dore, Five Guineas; One broad 
piece of Charles the first. Have also inclosed a Bill of 
Exchange for Nine pounds, Six shillings and Seven pence 
■drawn by a young merchant, Mr. James Taylor, on Mr. 
Samuel Whitfield. The books I would have bought are 

"Ars Cogltandi. 2. 

"Le Grands Philosophy, Latin. 

"Heerboordi Mcletomata. 3. 

"Dr. Charletons Physiologia. 

"Dr. Moors Imortality of the Soul. 

"Metaphysicks, Ethicks. 

"Glanvils Sceptis Scientifica. 
Pur. Rep. — 12 



178 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

"Dr. Wilkin's nattural Principles, and Duties. His 
World in the Moon. 

"Stallius his Regulae Phylosophicae. 

"Stierij Questiones Physicae cum Praeceptis Philosophiae. 

"Burgerdicius, Logick with Heerebords Notes. 

"The great Hist. Geographical, and Poetical Dictionary- 
being a curious Misscellany of Sacred and Prophane History 
printed at London for Henry Rhodes. If there be an Edi- 
tion since 1694, Send the best Two of them. 

"Francis Turretini Institutio Theologiae Elencticae in 
tres partes distributiae 4to. 

"Turretini Disputationes de satisfactione Christi. 4to. 

"Poles [Poole, M.] Synopsis criticorum in five volumes, 
if light on them a peniwoth. 

"A K. Edward 6th, his Common Prayer Book, of 
Queen Eliz. The Queens Bible, If it can be had any 
thing reasonable."^ 

In the same letter he says: 

"I know not exactly what the Books will come to. If 
the Money doe more than hold out, send in School Books ; 
Esops Eng. and Lat, Corderius Eng. and Lat., Terrence 
Eng. and Lat., Ovid de Tristibus, Metamorphosis, Virgil, 
Tullies de Officijs, Grammars, constr[u]ing Books." 

In a subsequent letter, written on July ist follow- 
ing, he says; 

"I writt to you of the loth of June, to buy a few Books 
for me. I would have you add to them I particularly men- 
tiond, A Narrative of the Portsmouth Disputation between 
Presbyterians and Baptists at Mr. Williams's Meetinghouse, 
Bp of Norwich's Sermon of Religious Melancholy. Amin- 
tor, a Defence of Milton, with Reasons for abolishing the 
^ Sewall's Letters, Vol. i, p. 237. 



EDUCATION, ROOKS AND LITERATURE. I 79 

30th January; Two of them. Account of the fust Voyages 
into America by Barthol. de las Casas ; Two of them. Ac- 
count of a Jew lately converted, and baptised at the Meet- 
inghouse near Ave-Mary-Lane ; Four of them." 

In order that the government might exercise super- 
vision over the printing, licenses to print were re- 
quired in 1662, and in 1664 an order was made, 
which continued for ten years, that there should be 
no printing except at Cambridge. 

^'According to the best information to be ob- 
tained," says jNIr. Winsor,^ "it appears that, during 
the fifty years which passed from the setting up of 
the first press in New England to the close of the 
Colonial Period, there were issued in Boston and 
Cambridge something over three hundred separate 
publications. Of these nearly two-thirds were ex- 
positions of religious belief or writings in defence of 
dogmas or aids to worship." The remainder con- 
sisted chiefly of laws, official publications, almanacs, 
educational books, and other publications which do 
not belong to the domain of literature. 

Some of the books printed were reprints, such as 
Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." Some were the 
productions of home authors. Increase Mather 
wrote about fifteen of the books printed by John 
Foster the first Boston printer. 

As already stated, only a small percentage of the 
books composed by the colonists during the com- 
monwealth period can be classed as belonginiJ^ to gen- 
eral literature. There were a few historical works, 

^ T/ie Literature of the Colonial Period^ i Mem. Hist, of Boston, 
P- 453- 



l8o THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

chief of which is Winthrop's *' History of New En- 
gland," consisting mainly of notes kept by him in 
the form of a daily journal, which was begun when 
he left England in 1630, and was continued until 
shortly before his death in 1649. 

Capt. Edward Johnson, of Woburn, Mass., wrote 
a book, first published anonymously in London in| 
1654, purporting to be "A History of New England, 
from the English Planting in the yeare 1628 until 
the Yeare 1652," but the running title, by which it 
is usually cited, was "Wonder- Working Providence 
of Sion's Saviour in New England." The book is 
not a history of New England and can scarcely be 
called a history of the Massachusetts colony during 
the period which it covers. It consists largely of ac- 
counts of the planting of the different churches in 
the Massachusetts colony, together with biographical 
sketches of the ministers and some of the prominent 
colonists, whose names are rarely spelled correctly, 
memories of whom are embalmed in jingling verses 
or "meetres," plentifully sprinkled throughout the 
book. But, notwithstanding the pious exaggeration 
of the author and his ridiculous rhymes, the book 
contains a variety of valuable information nowhere 
else to be found. | 

John Mason wrote a small volume, first printed in: 
1677, entitled, ''The History of the Pequot War"; 
and Daniel Gookin wrote two books, one finished in 
1674 but not printed until 1792, entitled, "Historical 
Collections of the Indians in New England"; the 
other finished in 1677 but not printed until 1836, en- 
titled, "An Historical Account of the Doings and 



EDUCATION, BOOKS AND LITERATURE. iSl 

Sufferings of the Christian Indians in New En- 
gland." It is said that he also wrote a ''History of 
New England," the manuscript of which is supposed 
to have been burned. 

There were several books of a descriptive char- 
acter. Francis Higginson, about 1629, wrote a book 
entitled "New England's Plantation,"^ giving the 
result of observations for a period of about three 
months after his arrival in 1629. William Wood 
came over about 1629, and in 1634 gave his impres- 
sion of the country in a volume entitled, "New En- 
gland's Prospect." 

John Jossel3'n published two books — one entitled 
"New England's Rarities," published in London in 
1672, the other entitled, "x\n Account of Two Voy- 
ages to New England," published in London in 
1674. In the "Two Voyages," Josselyn writes not 
onl}' about America but about almost everything, 
celestial and terrestrial, from comets to "kibed heels." 
The volume is filled with incredible stories and con- 
cludes with a chronology beginning with "Anno 
Mundi 3720." Nevertheless the book is often quoted. 
Prof. Tyler includes it in American literature, but 
Mr. Justin Winsor does not. 

Poetry was not wholly neglected. The most nota- 
ble poet of the commonwealth period was Anne 
Bradstreet who was born in England in 161 3, and 
was the wife of Simon Bradstreet, of Emmanuel Col- 
lege, Cambridge, and afterwards Governor. She 
came with him in 1630 to this country, where all 
her poems were written. 

^Reprinted in Force's Historical Tracts, Vol. i, and in Young's 
Chronicles, etc., p. 239. 



1 82 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

"The first collection of them was printed at Boston, in 
1640, under the title of 'Several Poems, compiled with great 
variety of Wit and Learning, full of delight; wherein espe- 
cially is contained a compleat Discourse and Description of 
the Four Elements, Constitutions, Ages of Man, and Sea- 
sons of the Year, together with an exact Epitome of the 
Three First Monarchies, viz., the Assyrian, Persian, and 
Grecian ; and the beginning of the Roman Commonwealth 
to the end of their last King; with divers other Pleasant 
and Serious Poems; By a Gentlewoman of New England.' 
In 1650 this volume was reprinted in London, with the ad- 
ditional title of 'The Tenth Muse, lately sprung up in 
America' ; and in 1678 a second American edition came 
from the press of John Foster, of Boston, 'corrected by the 
author, and enlarged by the addition of several other poems 
found among her papers after her death.' "^ 

At the time of their publication the poems received 
high praise in this country. Nathaniel Ward spoke 
of them in the most eulogistic terms and Cotton 
Mather, comparing her to Hypatia, Sorocchia, the 
three Corinnaes, the Empress Eudocia, Pamphila 
and other celebrated women, claims that a place 
should be found in the catalogue of illustrious au- 
thoresses for "Madame Ann Bradstreet ■55- ^ * 
v^hose poems, divers times printed, have afforded a 
grateful entertainment unto the ingenious, and a 
monument for her memory beyond the stateliest 
marbles." The Rev. John Norton was captivated 
by her poems and expressed the opinion that, if 
Virgil could have heard them, he would have been 
so mortified by the inferiority of his own that he 
would forthwith have consigned the latter to the 

* Griswold's Female Poets of America, 17. 



EDUCATION, BOOKS AND LITERATURE. iS 



o 



flames. We may not in this age allow ourselves to 
be so enthusiastic as the reverend and gallant divines 
who were her contemporaries. But we can at least 
accept the judgment of a competent modern critic, 
Mr. Griswold, who sa3's: "A comparison of the 
productions of this celebrated person with those of 
I^ady Juliana Berners, Elizabeth Melvill,the Countess 
of Pembroke, and her other predecessors or contem- 
poraries, will convince the judicious critic that she 
was superior to any poet of her sex who wrote in the 
English language before the close of the seventeenth 
century." 

One other poet whose poems, though character- 
ized by Dr. Ellis as " doggerel," were deemed 
worthy to be collected into a bound volume, was the 
Rev. Michael Wigglesworth, minister at Maiden 
from 1656 to 1705. The longest of his poems, the 
*'Day of Doom," published in 1662, passed through 
eight American editions and one English. Another, 
*'Meat out of the Eater," published in 1669, went 
through five editions; and another was published 
after his death, entitled "God's Controversy with 
New England." The titles of these poems suffi- 
ciently indicate their somber religious tone.^ 

But the poetry of that period was not confined to 
the volumes of Mrs. Bradstreet and the Rev. INIichael 
"Wigglesworth. Ability to write poetry was an ac- 
complishment supposed to be indispensable to every 
educated gentleman, and nearly all public men, INIr. 
Tarbox tells us, imagined "that the}' could turn out 

^ See Article on iVezv England Poetry of the Seventeenth Century ^ 
by I. N. Tarbox, 39 New Englander Magazine, p. 174; 39 Lon. Quart. 
Mag., p. 118. 



184 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

a piece of poetry on call, for almost every occasion."' 
When Gov. Dudley died, July 31, 1653, some verses 
were found in his pocket, which Morton says^ "may 
further illustrate his character and give a taste of his 
poetical fancy, wherein it is said he did excel." Then 
follow some verses of which the following is the con- 
cluding stanza: 

"Let men of God in Courts and churches watch 
O'er such as do a toleration hatch; 
Lest that ill egg bring forth a cockatrice 
To poison all with heresy and vice. 
If men be left, and otherwise combine; 
My Epitaph's I died no libertine." 

When any noted public man died the poetry- 
was forthcoming. If a minister, his clerical breth- 
ren never failed to load down his memory with pon- 
derous elegies couched in the most extravagant lan- 
guage. "Let it be known," says the author of the 
"Magnalia," "that America can embalm great 
persons as well as produce them, and New England 
can bestow an elegy as well as an education upon its 
heroes." Many of these elegies will be found scat- 
tered through the "Magnalia" and Morton's "New 
England's Memorial." Often they were in the 
acrostic style. Excepting the volumes mentioned, 
the elegies, the Bay Psalm Book and the solemn 
epitaphs of the tombstone poets, little poetry of the 
commonwealth period has survived. 

During the period styled by Mr. Charles Francis 
Adams the "theologico-glacial," extending, as he 

"^ New Englaiid's Memorial, 6th ed., p. 167, 



EDUCATION, BOOKS AND LITERATURE. 1 85 

claims, from the meeting of the Cambridge Synod in 
September, 1637, ^^ the year 1760, there was, he 
says, ver}' little printed matter of any literary value. 

"It is a fact worthy of note that the MagnaHa stands to-daj^ 
the one single Hterary landmark in a century and a half of 
colonial and provincial life, a geological relic of a glacial 
period, a period which in pure letters produced, so far as 
Massachusetts was concerned, absolutely nothing else, not 
a poem nor an essay, nor a memoir, nor a work of fancy 
or fiction of which the world has cared to take note." 

He contrasts this with the corresponding period 
in the mother country which, he says, was there a 
fruitful season, 

"For it began with Milton and closed with Johnson; 
while Clarendon and Burnet, Dryden, Pope and Goldsmith, 
Bunyan, Swift, Addison, Steele, and Defoe, Locke, Boling- 
broke and Newton were included in it."^ 

It may be observed, however, in explaining the 
dearth of literature in Massachusetts during^ this 
time, that there are some other things to be taken 
into account besides the chilling atmosphere of the 
*'theologico-glacial" period. It is reasonable to pre- 
sume that men who were chiefly engaged in fighting 
savages and hewing homes out of the wilderness, and 
at the same time establishing a government, had not 
much time or opportunity to write books and com- 
pose poetr3\ It was long after William the Con- 
queror set foot on the shores of England until there 
appeared any English bard or writer *^'of whom the 
world has cared to take note." Those named by 

I * Massachusetts, Its Historians, etc., pp. 65-67. 



1 86 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

Mr. Adams, who have given such splendor to English 
literature, came at a much later period. 

Not a trace of what is now called "juvenile" lit- 
erature appears in this period. Good old Mother 
Goose's melodies were not published until 1719, and 
the children were limited in their literary diet to the 
catechism and Cotton's ' ' Spiritual milk for American 
Babes, drawn out of the breasts of both Testaments 
for their souls Nourishment." 

Of all the books prmted during the commonwealth 
period, the most celebrated was the Bay Psalm 
Book. It passed through many editions. The ear- 
liest are now regarded as great literary curiosities 
and command fabulous prices. It was reprinted in 
England and is said to have passed through seventy 
editions. 

Another book almost, if not quite, as noted, was 
the New England Primer, the latest edition of which 
was published by the Munsells, of Albany, N. Y., in 

1885. 

"There never has been printed in this country," say 
these publishers, "a book, laying no claim to inspiration, 
whose influence has been so extended and enduring as that 
of the New England Primer. For more than a century it 
was almost exclusively the juvenile book of New England, 
and although it may not now be regarded as wholly unex- 
ceptionable and adequate to the wants of the age, mighty 
indeed was its influence upon the people among whom it 
circulated "^ 

We look through its pages now and smile at the 

^ The first edition is said to have been printed about 1690. 20 Magazine 
Am. His. 148. 



EDUCATION, BOOKS AND LITERATURE. 1 87 

picture of Satan with a forked tail and at other comical 
illustrations. We smile again at the verses telling how 

"Young Obadias, 
David, Josias 
All were Pious. 

and how 

"Zacheus he 
Did climb the Tree, 
Our Lord to see." 

We turn through the pages and we come to the 
child's prayer, 

"Now I lay me down to take my sleep, 
I pray the Lord my soul to keep. 
If I should die before I wake, 
I pray the Lord my soul to take." 

The words of this simple prayer, handed down 
from generation to generation^ will recall to many 
the memories of childhood and the vision of the 
kneeling figure and sweet face of one who taught 
them to repeat the prayer in years long gone by; 
they will forget all about Obadias and Zacheus, and, 
whatever they may think about the Puritan fathers, 
they will revere the memory of the Puritan mothers. 

Without entering into a discussion of the vexed 
question whether an almanac of any kind should be 
assigned to the domain of literature, we must, nev- 
ertheless, not neglect to mention the almanacs of the 
commonwealth period. The first one printed in the 
colonies was "An almanac, calculated for New En- 
gland by Mr. William Pierce, Mariner," printed by 



iSS THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

Stephen Daye and preceding by a year the Bay 
Psahii Book, pubHshed by the same printer in 1640.^ 
Ahiianacs were issued almost every year after that. 
*'Manyof these almanacs," says Mr. Spofford, ''are 
preserved in private families, though but few are to 
be found in our public libraries. It was an early 
habit in New England to preserve the almanacs from 
year to year, carefully stitched together, and to an- 
notate them frequently with family records or cur- 
rent events." 

In the preface to ''Prince's Annals," the author 
enumerates the authorities which he consulted, in- 
cluding "interleaved Almanacs of the late honorable 
John Hull and Judge Sewall, of Boston, Esqrs., of 
the Rev. Mr. Shepard, the last of Charlestown, of 
the late Rev. Mr. Joseph Gerrish, of Wenham, and 
several others from 1646 to 1720; wherein the facts 
were wrote at the time they happened." 

Indeed the Bible, the Bay Psalm Book, and the al- 
manac composed all there was of the libraries of 
most of the early Puritans. 

As already noted, the religious books, sermons 
and tracts, constituted the great bulk of the writings 
of the commonwealth period. They were mainly 
the productions of the ministers, who were prodig- 
ious workers. John Cotton was the author of many 
publications. John Norton was also a great worker 
and a prolific writer. Increase Mather was the au- 
thor of 92 distinct publications — two of them being 
written in Latin. 

Of these religious writings, it is difficult for us in 

^ Spofford's Almanac for 1S7S, p. 23. 



EDUCATION, BOOKS AND LITERATURE. 1 89 

this age to form an accurate judgment. We have 
drifted far away from the doctrines and the style of 
the writers. Excepting, perhaps, theologians versed 
in the lore of ancient theology, few of the present 
generation can understand these old books. No- 
body of course can understand what the Rev. Na- 
thaniel Ward, author of "The Simple Cobbler of 
Agawam," meant by such a sentence as this: "If 
the whole conclave of Hell can so compromise exad- 
verse and diametrical contradictions as to compolitize 
such a multimonstrous manfrey of heteroclites quic- 
quidlibets quietly, I trust I may say with all humble 
reverence they can do more than the senate of 
Heaven." Prof. Tyler admits that he does not know 
what this means and it is tolerably certain that no- 
bod}'' understood it in Ward's time. But Ward is an 
exception. He was very much afflicted with self- 
conceit, and it is probable that his eccentricity of 
st3'le was large 1}^ cultivated for effect.^ 

Hooker and Cotton and Norton and their col- 
leagues of the Puritan clergy knew good English 
and used it. Still there is a great deal in their writ- 

1 A reprint of the 5th edition of the Simple Cobbler is found in 
Force's Historical Tracts, Vol. 3. Mr. Whitmore in a note on page 19 
of Col. Laws, 1660-1672, says: " Among the strange words used by 
Ward I note pudder, exulcerations, colluvies, sedulity, jadish, interturbe, 
corrive, quidanye, prestigiated, ignotions, mundicidious, dedolent, exad- 
verse, per-peracute, nugiperous, nudiustertian, futilous, perquisquilian, 
indenominable, precellency, surquedryes, prodromies, digladiations, pro- 
suit, bivious, awke; besides many, almost innumerable oddities of com- 
bination." I may add that I have never seen such an orthographical 
jumble except in a little book written by S. K. Hoshour, published in 
1S50, and entitled, "Altisonant Letters." Evidently the author, if he 
had ever read Ward's sermons, found them to be too hard for him, for 
in the vocabulary appended to the Letters are found only two of the 
^'strange words" mentioned by Mr. Whitmore. 



TOO THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

ings that we of this age can not comprehend any 
more readily than we can comprehend the gibberish 
of Ward. Prof. Tyler characterizes John Cotton's 
writings as "vast tracts and jungles of Puritanic dis- 
course — exposition, exhortation, logic-chopping, the- 
ological hair-splitting," and the same criticism will 
apply with equal force to the books and sermons of 
his contemporaries. • 

I have one of John Norton's books, "The Ortho- 
dox Evangelist," printed in 1654, which has been 
handed down from generation to generation, and is 
now preserved as a curious relic of the past. This 
was the most celebrated production of that famous 
divine, and was regarded by his Puritan contempora- 
ries and successors as a wonderfully clear and logical 
exposition of the orthodox religious doctrines of that 
period, wherein, as Cotton Mather expressed it, the 
author had "digested the subtleties of the school- 
men into solid and wholesome Christianity." In 
the preface the author says "men need strong meat as 
well as Babes need milk; though he who is but a Babe 
hath not the knowledge of a man, yet he that is a Babe 
labours after the knowledg of a man. Babes rest 
not in being Babes. I have endeavored to say some- 
thing that might entertain the stronger, yet so as (I 
hope) I have scarce said anything that weaker capaci- 
ties may not with due attention attain unto." En- 
couraged by this, I have endeavored again and again, 
by "due attention," to "attain unto" an understand- 
ing of the book, but I have as often abandoned the 
attempt in despair. I can not grasp its innumerable 
heads, divisions and subdivisions in the discussion of 



EDUCATION, BOOKS AND LITER.\TURE. I9I 

the negative, relative and positive "Attributes," and 
how these are ''distinguished from the Divine Es- 
sence and one from another"; the "four attributes 
of the beatifical object"; the difference between 
eternity, eviternity and time; the distinction be- 
tween "common" and "saving or special grace," 
and the "perilous consequences" from not distin- 
guishing between them — some of these awful conse- 
quences being that, without so distinguishing, "Pela- 
gians, semi-Pelagians, Arminians, Papists and Or- 
thodox are all confounded together." 

But, without making any more extensive com- 
parisons, I take my own profession, the law, and 
compare the style of the ancient theological writers 
with that of the legal writers of the same period. I 
take "Coke upon Littleton," the first edition of 
which was published in 1628, and lay Norton's book 
alongside of that celebrated work and compare the 
table of contents of the one with that of the other, 
the theological jargon of the one with the legal 
jargon of the other; Norton's metaphysical dis- 
tinctions and Coke's distinctions between the kinds 
of certainty required in pleading, viz.: certainty 
to a "common intent"; certainty to a " certaine 
intent in generall," and certainty to a "certaine 
intent in every particular." I take up Kent and 
read what he says upon the question as to the 
time at which money provided for children's por- 
tions may be raised by sale or mortgage of the re- 
versionary term. "The history of the question," he 
says, "is worthy of a moment's attention, as a legal 
curiosity and a sample of the perplexity and uncer- 



103 



THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 



tainty with which complicated settlements 'rolled in 
tangles,' and subtle disputations and eternal doubts, 
will insensibly incumber and oppress a free and civi- 
lized system of jurisprudence." And then I con- 
clude that the theology of the 17th century was no 
harder to understand than the law of the same period. 

This is no reason, however, for ridiculing the theo- 
logians and the lawyers of the old times, or for accus- 
ing the present age of degeneration. The simple truth 
is that we have outgrown both the theology and the 
law of the 1 7th century and we are now unused to 
the ideas and the language of both. 

It is quite certain that the clergy of the common- 
wealth period were learned men, amongst the most 
learned of the age. Hutchinson says,^ that the repu- 
tation of the New England clergy "had been for 
some time very great in England and the opinions of 
Mr. Cotton, Hooker, Davenport and others are cited 
as authorities by many English divines." In the art 
of reasoning they had no superiors; their books and 
sermons were the product of enormous study and in- 
tense mental effort; and those who read and listened 
to them, understood, or thought they understood, 
them, and received them with eager delight. No 
books and no orators of the present age wield such a 
prodigious influence in moulding belief and shaping 
both public and private opinion as did those of the 
commonwealth period. 

» Vol. I, p. 175. 



X 

RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY 

For fifty years and more the Puritans struggled to 
establish a Biblical commonwealth; the attempt re- 
sulted in a dismal failure, but the history of it is in- 
dispensable to a correct understanding of the govern- 
ment, the laws and the social life of the times. 

Whatever thoughts may have been in the minds 
of the originators of the Massachusetts company' in 
reference to the acquisition of homes and fortunes, 
whatever ideas of political liberty they may have 
had, it is clear that their cardinal idea was to secure 
for themselves and their posterity the right, which 
had been denied them in England, to enjoy the ex- 
ercise of their own religious opinions without let or 
hindrance from kings or bishops. 

As to the character of their religion it is not nec- 
essary to say much more than that its harshest feat- 
ures were little, if any, softer than were those of 
Scotch Presbyterianism in the seventeenth centur}- as 
described b}^ Buckle.^ Indeed, so late as the time of 
Jonathan Edwards, that eminent divine thundered 
orthodox}' as gloomy, and in tones as fierce, as those 
which characterized the sermons of Hooker, and 
tradition tells us that in the sermons which he was 
wont to preach, depicting the awful sufferings of sin- 

^ Hist. Civ. in Eng., Vol. 2, Chap. 5. 
Pur. Rep.— 13 (l93) 



194 "^^^ PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

ners in the hands of an angry God, he sometimes so 
terrified his hearers that they clutched their seats in a 
frenzy of fright, fearing to loosen their grip lest they 
mio^ht slide forthwith down into hell. 

The views of Edwards upon the future torments 
of the damned are luridly set forth in the following 
extract from his works :^ 

"The world will probably be converted into a great lake 
or liquid globe of fire, a vast ocean of fire, in which the 
wicked shall be overwhelmed, which will always be in 
tempest, in which they shall be tost to and fro, having no 
rest day or night, vast waves or billows of fire continually 
rolling over their heads, of which they shall forever be full 
of a quick sense within and without; their heads, their eyes, 
their tongues, their hands, their feet, their loins, and their 
vitals shall forever be full of a glowing, melting fire, fierce 
enough to melt the very rocks and elements ; and also they 
shall eternally be full of the most quick and lively sense to 
feel the torments; not for one minute, nor for one day, nor 
for one age, nor for two ages, nor for a hundred ages, nor 
for ten thousands of millions of ages one after another, but 
forever and ever, without any end at all, and never, never 
be delivered." 

Alger, quoting this extract in connection with ex- 
tracts from other writers and from Calvin on infant 
damnation, adds: 

"It is not the Father of Christ, but his Antagonist, whose 
face glares down over such a scene as that ! The above 
diabolical passage, at the recital of which from the pulpit, 
Edwards's biographers tell us, 'whole congregations shud- 
dered and simultaneously rose to their feet, smiting their 
1 Vol. 8, p. io6. 



RISE AND F.\LL OF THE THEOCRACY. 1 95 

breasts, weeping and groaning,' is not the arbitrary ex- 
aggeration of an individual, but a fair representation of the 
actual tenets and vividly held faith of the Puritans."* 

The most pathetic passages in the diary of Judge 
Sewall are those which detail the agony of his young 
daughter Betty, when the innocent child, tortured by 
the preaching of John Norton and Cotton Mather 
and the teachings of her own father, had been driven 
almost to the verge of insanity by the conviction that 
she was a "Reprobat"; that her "Sins were not par- 
don'd"; that she "was like Spira, not Elected"; and 
"was afraid should go to Hell."^ 

But the manner in which the Theocracy was de- 
veloped is worthy of careful study. Of course there was 
no hint of it in the charter granted by King Charles. 
Nor was the Theocracy ever a constituent part of the 
government itself. Its existence, as a definite and dis- 
tinct body, was not recognized, either in the frame of 
government, or in its laws. It was a body entirely 
apart, composed of a small minority of the people, 
guided and controlled by a still smaller minority of 
ministers, who were largely influenced by a yet 
smaller minority of their own number. The author- 
ity which these few exercised over the others was very 
great, but it came chiefly from sources other than the 
form of government. They ruled largely by the in- 
fluence which their position in the churches, their 
talents, and their force of character gave them. 

It seems incredible in this age that these few 
were enabled to exercise such authority at the 

* Doctrine of Future Life, p. 517. 

*Sewall's Papers, Vol. i, pp. 419, 422, 423, 437. 



196 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

beginning, but more especially toward the close, of 
the commonwealth, when at least five-sixths of the 
people were not church members. How this author^ 
ity was acquired, how it was developed and enlarged, 
until it dominated the commonwealth, will appear as 
we examine further into the character of the clergy 
and the character of the people. 

The ministers who came over in the few years after 
the granting of the charter were among the most 
learned men of the age in which they lived. Hooker 
and Cotton came in 1633, Shepherd and Norton and 
Richard Mather in 1635. ^^^ ^^ them were univer- 
sity graduates and had achieved distinction in England* 
^'It has been computed," says Mr. Justin Winsor, 
*'that nearly one hundred University men came over 
from England to cast their lot in the new colony be- 
tween 1630 and 1647; and of these two thirds came 
from Cambridge, particularly from Emmanuel Col- 
lege, — the Puritan seed-plot." 

Of Cotton it is said that he was not only familiar 
with Greek, but wrote Latin with ease and elegance 
and could discourse in Hebrew. 

Nor were the learned clergymen confined to Bos- 
ton and the adjacent towns. Even in the frontier 
town of Marlborough, we learn that the minister 
(Mr. Brimsmead) was a very learned man, who kept 
a journal in Latin, interspersed with quotations in 
Greek and Hebrew.^ 

The industry of the ministers was as marvelous as 
was their learning. This their published sermons and 
books attest. The Rev. John Cotton, it is said, 

1 The Literature of the Colonial Period, i Mem. Hist, of Boston, 454_^ 

2 Hudson's His, of Marlborough, 51. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 1 97 

spent twelve hours each clay In reading, and it was 
his habit to close the day with reading something 
from John Calvin, because, he said, "I love to 
sweeten my mouth with a piece of Calvin before I go 
to sleep." Increase Mather was accustomed to study 
sixteen hours every day. Some of the other minis- 
ters must have been quite as industrious. 

They were men of fearless disposition and indom- 
itable will. Hooker, Shepherd, Cotton and Norton 
had been excommunicated and forced to flee for their 
lives, because of their boldness of speech and their 
defiance of Laud and the High Commission. Many 
of the ministers who came after them were compelled 
to leave England for the same reason. 

Such men would be influential in any civilized 
country in this or any other age. They would be 
still more influential among a people in full accord 
with their religious views, as were the colonists in 
Massachusetts when the commonwealth began, most 
of whom had left England because they could not 
freely avow and practice the religion which they con- 
scientiously believed. Naturally, therefore, their 
ministers would exercise a greater influence over 
them than over men of different reli«;ious views. 

Their isolation from the rest of the world, with 
the Atlantic ocean between them and their kindred 
in England, served to draw them still closer together, 
and to make them confide still more in those to whom 
they had been taught from infancy to apply for con- 
solation and comfort. 

To show how close were the bonds, and how 
strong was the affection, between the ministers and 



198 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

their congregations, there is abundant evidence. 
When Hooker left Boston and went to Hartford he 
took with him his entire flock. Only the strongest 
personal attachment could have induced the members 
of the Scrooby congregation to leave all and follow 
their minister to Leyden. The parting of the Pil- 
grims and their loved pastor, John Robinson, dis- 
closes a mutual affection, as tender and as touching 
as it was pure and deep. It throws a mellowing light 
upon the harsh features of the early PuritartS and 
enables us to comprehend why they were ready to 
follow their chosen shepherds to the ends of the earth. 
Nor is it surprising that the ministers were looked 
upon by their flocks with a feeling closely akin to 
veneration, and that when Hooker and Cotton died 
the death of each was supposed to be presaged by 
supernatural events and miraculous visions, indicating 
that the Almighty had thus specially marked the 
event. Seeing how the influence of the clergy began, 
we can better understand its development. 

One of the first things done by the colonists, after 
the charter had been procured, was "^to make a 
plentiful provision of Godly ministers," and the first 
of their vessels conveyed four of them. Before any 
steps were taken by the newly arrived immigrants in 
reference to civil government a church was organized 
at Salem. The first thought of the colonists was to 
make provision for churches and ministers. This 
was the first matter considered at the first meetino: of 
the Court of Assistants in 1630. For a time the 
ministers were supported by voluntary contributions 
but afterward laws were passed for the building and 



RISE AND FAI.T. OF THE THEOCRACY. 1 99 

maintenance at the expense of the towns, of meeting- 
houses and homes for the ministers.^ 

Another care of the colonists was to see that none 
but church members were admitted to the privileges 
of freemen and a voice in the management of the 
affairs of the colony. Nothing was said in the charter 
as to the religious qualifications of freemen, and the 
only requisite to admission to the privileges of such 
was the consent of those already constituted freemen. 
At the first General Court held in 1631, 118 persons 
were admitted, but at the same court, " to the end 
the body of the Commons might be preserved of 
honest and good men," it was ordered that ''for the 
time to come no inan should be admitted to the free- 
dom of this body politic but such as were members 
of some of the churches within the limits of the 
same." A law to the same effect was passed in 1647.^ 
As will be seen presently, only "orthodox" churches 
were recognized. In 1664, in consequence of com- 
plaints in England and the severe admonition 
of the King, the law was nominally repealed, but 
the repeal did not cure the grievances complained 
of, for the repealing act itself required, as one of the 
conditions precedent to admission of applicants for 
freedom, "a Certificate under the hand of the Min- 
isters, or Minister of the place where they dwell, 
that they are Orthodox in Religion, and not Vicious 
in their Lives. "^ It is entirely safe to say that no 
Baptist or Quaker could have prevailed upon any or- 
thodox minister to give him such a certificate. 

' Col. Laws 1660-1672, p. 14S. 
"Col. Laws 1660-1672, p. 153. 
*Col. Laws 1660-1672, p. 229. j 



200 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

The colonists were not satisfied with excluding 
from the privileges of citizenship those who were 
not '^orthodox in religion," but they were unwilling 
that they should abide in the colony. This was un- 
doubtedly one of the reasons leading to the enact- 
ment of the laws in reference to strangers. By 
these laws any strangers "of what quality soever," 
were required to be brought by the master of the 
vessel bringing them, immediately upon their arrival, 
before the governor, the deputy governor or two 
other magistrates, "there to give an account of their 
occasion and busines in this Country, whereby satis- 
faction may be given, and order taken, with such 
strangers," as should be deemed proper. No town 
or person was allowed to entertain any stranger 
above three weeks, "except such person shall have 
allowance under the hand of some one Magistrate."^ 

When the Baptists became troublesome, laws were 
passed authorizing their banishment. Still severer laws 
were passed in reference to the Quakers, increasing 
in severity in proportion to their obstinacy. Heavy 
penalties were imposed upon the master of any ves- 
sel bringing them to the colony, and against any per- 
son who should entertain them, and the Quaker 
ministers were subjected to banishment, and to death 
if, after banishment, they voluntarily returned.^ 

As might be supposed, it was considered of prime 
importance to preserve the purity of the orthodox 
religion and to prevent the contamination of it by any 
heretical dogmas. Blasphemy, as already stated, 

' Col. Laws 1660-1672, p. 193. 
*Col. Laws, 1660-1672, pp. 155, 156. 



RISE AND FALT. OF THE THEOCRACY. 20I 

was punishable capitally by the Body of Liberties. 
In 1646 it was ordered:^ 

"That if any Christian within this Jurisdiction, shall go 
about to subvert and destroy the Christian Faith and Re- 
ligion, by broaching and mdinta'm'mg any Dam uad/c Here- 
sies: as denying the immortallity of the soule, or resurrec- 
tion of the body, or any sin to be repented of in the regen- 
erate, or any evil done by the outward man to be accounted 
sin, or denying that Christ gave himselfe a ransom for our 
sins, or shall afifirm that we are not justifyed by his death 
and righteousnes, but by the perfections of our own works, or 
shall deny the morallity of the Fourth Commandement, or 
shall openly Condemn or oppose the Baptizing of Infants, 
or shall purposely depart the Congregation at the adminis- 
tration of that Ordinance, or shall deny the ordinance of 
Magistracy, or their Lawfull Authority to make war, or to 
punish the outward breaches of the first Table, or shall en- 
deavour to seduce others to any of the errors or heresies 
above mentioned, every such person continuing obstinate 
therin, after due meanes of Conviction, shall be sentenced 
to Banishment." 

Later the law against heresy was made to include 
the denial by word or writing of the inspiration of 
any of the books of the old or the new testament; and 
severe laws were enacted against that "cursed sect of 
hereticks, lately risen up in the world, which are 
called Quakers"; their books were ordered to be 
burned and the Quakers, themselves, banished and 
put to death if they returned. And an omnibus 
law was enacted, providing that "every person that 
shall publish and maintaine any Heterodox or errone- 
ous Doctrine, shall be liable to be questioned and 
^Cwli Luws, j06o-i67i,p, 154, 



202 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

Censured by the County Court where he liveth, ac- 
cording to the merit of his offence."^ 

As before stated, the privileges of freemen were 
hmited to church members. It was therefore found 
necessary to see that the churches themselves were 
orthodox. The provisions of the Body of Liberties 
in reference to churches had seemingly been very 
liberal, those of liberty No. 95, entitled "A Declara- 
tion of the Liberties the Lord Jesus hath given to 
the Churches," being as follows:^ 

"All the people of god within this Jurisdiction who are 
not in a church way, and be orthodox in Judgement, and 
not scandalous in life, shall have full libertie to gather them- 
selves into a Church Estaite. Provided they doe it in a 
Christian way, with due observation of the rules of Christ 
revealed in his word. 

"2. Every Church hath full libertie to exercise all the 
ordinances of god, according to the rules of scripture. 

"3. Every Church hath free libertie of Election and or- 
dination of all their officers from time to time, provided 
they be able, pious and orthodox. 

"4. Every Church hath free libertie of Admission, Rec- 
ommendation, Dismission, and expulsion, or deposall of 
their officers and members, upon due cause, with free exer- 
cise of the Discipline and Censures of Christ according to 
the rules of his word. 

"5. No Injunctions are to be put upon any Church, 
Church officers or member in point of Doctrine, worship or 
Discipline, whether for substance or cercumstance besides 
the Institutions of the lord. 

"6. Every Church of Christ hath freedome to celebrate 

^Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 156. 
^Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 57. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 203 

daycs of fasting and prayer, and of thanksgiveing accord- 
ing to the word of god. 

"7. The Elders of Churches have free libertie to meete 
monthly, Quarterly, or otherwise, in convenient numbers 
and places, for conferences and consultations about Chris- 
tian and Church questions and occasions. 

"8. All Churches have libertie to deale with any of their 
members in a church way that are in the hand of Justice. 
So it be not to retard or hinder the course thereof. 

"9. Every Church hath libertie to deale with any mages- 
trate, Deputie of Court or other officer what soe ever that 
is a member in a church way in case of apparent and just 
offence given in their places, so it be done with due ob- 
servance and respect. 

"10. Wee allowe private meetings for edification in re- 
ligion amongst Christians of all sortes of people. So it be 
without just offence for number, time, place, and other cer- 
cumstances." 

But in 1658 the foregoing provisions were revised 
and re-enacted wnth various amendments, the most 
significant being the following, inserted immediately 
after the first section quoted above :^ 

"Provided also that the Gcncrall Court doth not, nor will 
hereafter approve of any such companies of men, as shall 
joyne in any pretended way of Church-fellowship, unless 
they shall acquaint the Magistrates, and the Elders of the 
neighbour churches, where they intend to joyne, & Jiave 
their approbation therein. 

"2. It is further Ordered, that no person being a member 
of any church, which shall be gathered without the appro- 
bation of the Magistrates & the said churches, shall be ad- 
tnitted to the freedom of this Comon-wealth . ' ' 

^Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 147. The italics are mine. 



2 ©4 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

To make sure that none but orthodox ministers 
should be chosen, the churches were not allowed to 
call one without the consent of the neisrhborinaf 
churches and the magistrates, and, for violating this 
rule, a heavy fine was laid on the church at Maiden.^ 

Finally it was ordered, in 1679, that no meeting- 
house should be built without leave from the freemen 
of the town or the General Court. ^ When the Bap- 
tists opened a meeting-house in Boston, it was 
taken possession of by the magistrates; the doors 
were nailed up and a notice^ was posted, forbidding 
the holding of meetings there, and it is said that 
when the members assembled for worship they were 
arrested and treated very roughly.* 

To enforce respect for religion and the ministers, 
the law against blasphemy was enlarged in 1646, 
so as to include all who should "reproach the holy 
Religion of God, as if it were but a politick device; 
to keep ignorant men in awe; or shall utter any 
other kind of Blasphemy, of the like nature and de- 
gree."^ It was also provided that "every person or 
persons whatsoever, that shall revile the office or 
person of Magistrates or IVlinisters, as is usuall with 
the Quakers, such Person or Persons shall be Severely 
Whipt, or pay the Summ of Five Pounds."^ 

A law enacted in 1640 made it a finable offense to 
"goe about to destroy or disturb, the order & peace 

^ Hutchinson, Vol. i, p. 174. 
2 Mass. Rec, Vol. 5, p. 213. 

' Issued by order of the General Court, signed by Edward Rawson, 
Secretary, and dated March 8, 1680. 
* A Historic Meeting-House^ 17 Magazine Am. His. 474. 
® Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 128. 
^Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 156. 



RISE AND FAI.L OF THE THEOCRACY. 205 

of the churches estabHshed, in this Jurisdiction, by 
open renouncing their Church estate or their Minis- 
try, or other Ordinances dispensed in them, either 
upon pretense that the Churches were not planted by 
any new Apostle, or that ordinances are for carnal 
Christians, or for babes in Christ, & not for spiritual 
or illuminated persons, or upon any other such like 
groundless conceit."^ 

Another law, enacted in 1646, aimed particularly 
at the Quakers, made it an offense to interrupt a 
minister in his preaching or to charge him falsely 
with any error. Violators of this law for the first 
offense were to be reproved and bound over, "And 
if a second time they break forth into the like con- 
temptuous carriage, they shall either pay five pounds 
to the publick Treasury, or stand two houres openly 
upon a block or stool, four foot high, on a lecture 
day, with a paper fixed on his breast, written in Cap- 
ital letters, an open and obstinate contemner of 
GODS HOLY ORDINANCES, that Others ma}^ hear & be 
ashamed of breaking out into the like wickednes."^ 

Attendance upon religious services, not onl}- upon 
Sunda3's, but also upon fast and thanksgiving days, 
was required under penalty of a fine for absence 
without just and necessary cause.^ 

Particular attention was given to the observance of 
the Lord's da}-.^ 

The godly training of children and servants was not 
neglected. In 1642^ the following law was passed: 

^ Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 148. 
^Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 148. 
*Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 148. 
<See Chap. VIII. 
* Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 136. 



2o6 TFIE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

" It is Ordered that the Select men of every Town , in the sev- 
eral precincts, and quarters where they dwel, shal have a 
vigilant eye over their brethren and neighbours to see that 
* * * all masters of families, do once a week (at the least) 
catachise their children and servants in the grounds and prin- 
ciples of Religion, & if any be unable to do so much; that 
then at the least they procure such children and appren- 
tices, to learn some short orthodox catachism without book, 
that they may be able to answer unto the questions, that 
shall be propounded to them, out of such catachism by 
their parents or masters or any of the Select men, when 
they shall call them to a tryall, of what they have learned 
in this kind." 

Later^ it was provided that: 

"Forasmuch as it greatly Concernes the welfare of the 
Country that the youth thereof be educated not only in good 
Literature, but in sound Doctrine. This Court doth There- 
fore Commend it to the serious Consideration, & special care 
of our Overseers of the Colledg, & the Select men in the sev- 
eral townes, not to admit or suffer any such to be continued 
in the Office or place of teaching, educating or instructing 
youth or children, in the Colledg or Schools, that have 
manifested theselves ttfisound in the faith, or scandalous in 
their lives & have not given satisfaction according to the 
Rules of Christ." 

There was scarcely anything which the Theocracy 
did not pry into and attempt to regulate by law. It 
attempted to control men's thoughts as well as their 
actions. "It is evident," says Hutchinson,^ "not 
only by Mrs. Hutchinson's trial, but by many other 

*Col. Laws, i66o-i6''2. p. 191. 
*Vol. I, p. 75- 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 20/ 

public proceedings, that inquisition was made into 
men's private judgments as well as into their declara- 
tions and practice." 

It would be reasonable to suppose that the minis- 
ters in a community having such laws as have been 
mentioned would possess great power and influence, 
not only in social life, but in the affairs of govern- 
ment. And such was the fact. 

It will be observ^ed also that, under the peculiar 
system of the early colonial government, the men 
who composed the congregation in the town church 
were the identical men who voted at the town meet- 
ings. 

Another fact must be borne in mind. As we have 
seen, no one could be admitted a freeman, and be 
entitled to vote and exercise the privileges of citizen- 
ship, until he had been admitted a member of some 
orthodox church. But that was not always an easy 
matter. The minister would, of course, have great 
influence in determining the application for member- 
ship. Indeed, while he could not admit any one 
against the will of the congregation, neither could 
the congregation admit any one over his objection, 
however arbitrary it might be. 

That the influence of the clergy was enormous 
there can be no doubt. Prof. Tyler speaks of Hooker 
as "priest and king" of the Connecticut colon}', and 
of John Cotton as "the unmitred pope of a pope- 
hating commonwealth." The influence of John 
Norton, for a long period, was almost supreme, and 
"for nearly sixty years," according to Mr. Justin 



2o8 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

Winsor, "Increase Mather well-nigh ruled in the 
Boston, if not in the New England, Theocracy." 

The power of the clergy was plainly manifest in 
the proceedings of the General Court. No man sat 
there who was obnoxious to them, and it was seldom 
that any measure was carried over their objection. 
On all important questions their advice and counsel 
were sought, and in all affairs, civil and domestic, as 
well as ecclesiastical, the advice of the clergy was 
almost equivalent to a command. 

In 163 1 the citizens of Boston chose seven men to 
divide the town lands among them, but they chose 
only one elder and one deacon, " and the rest of the 
inferior sort," which they did "as fearing that the 
richer men would give the poorer sort no great pro- 
portion of land." But this was thought to be set- 
ting a bad precedent, "whereupon at the motion of 
Mr. Cotton, who showed them that it was the Lord's 
order among the Israelites to have all such business 
committed to the elders, * ■^- * they all agreed 
to go to a new election." 

In one of his sermons, preached in 1637, ^^" 
pounding a passage in 2 Chron. and Numbers 27, 21, 
Cotton said, "that the rulers of the people should con- 
sult with the ministers of the churches upon occasion 
of any war to be undertaken, and any other weighty 
business, though the case should seem never so clear, 
as David in the case of Ziglag, and the Israelites in 
the case of Gibeah. Judges, etc."^ 

Still another fact should be borne in mind, in esti- 
mating the influence of the clergy in the colonial 

^ Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 237. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 209 

government, which has been referred to in a former 
chapter, viz., the absence of the conservative influ- 
ence of lawyers. 

It must be obvious, from what has been said, that 
the connection between church and state was very in- 
timate. It is doubtful if the connection was ever 
more intimate since the days of Moses . Nor were 
the clergy ever more influential in any government. 
Their control was well-nigh supreme over the legis- 
lature, the courts and the people. The natural re- 
sult was to create an established church, not in name, 
but in fact. The Puritan orthodox church was as 
much an established church as the established church 
of England. 

Another result was a rapidly developing tendency 
to religious tyranny and persecution. An eminent 
historian says that there is no instance in history of 
unlimited power which has not been abused. This 
is true, whether the power be lodged in kings, legis- 
latures, judges, or ecclesiastics. 

The history of England and France, as well as 
that of Massachusetts, shows that no ecclesiastics of 
any denomination are exceptions to the rule. Indeed, 
the combination of politician and preacher is gener- 
ally a very bad one. It is bad if the preacher is a 
hypocrite and * 'steals the liver}^ of Heaven to sei"\'e 
the Devil in," and bad if he is a conscientious re- 
ligious fanatic, for, of all fanatics, the conscientious 
religious one is the most dangerous to his fellow-men. 

The power of the clergy was, of course, full}- re- 
cognized by the civil rulers, and "whenever," says 

Pur. Rep. — 14 



2IO THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

Mr. Savage,^ ''any course, that might proceed to a 
result of extreme injustice, cruelty, or tyranny, was 
contemplated by the civil rulers, the sanction of the 
churches or of the elders was usually solicited, and 
too often obtained." 

Enough has been said to show the influence of the 
church and of the ministers in the government, and 
of the tendency of that influence, to make it clear 
how a small minority was able so long to hold the 
reins of power in the commonwealth, in opposition 
to the majority. This is an important consideration 
when we seek to determine responsibility for the relig- 
ious persecutions of Baptists and Quakers. We have 
only to compare the Body of Liberties, adopted in 
1643, with the Revision of 1660, to see how rapid was 
the progress in the commonwealth toward religious 
despotism. 

The advance of the Theocracy toward the assump- 
tion of arbitrary power was not unopposed. On the 
contrary, its progress was marked by great dissen- 
sions and violent opposition and was tinged with 
blood. The darkest pages in the histor}^ of the com- 
monwealth are those which record the persecutions 
of persons whose religious views did not accord with 
those of the party in power. Very early, in 1629, 
the Brownes had insisted on using the Book of 
Common Prayer and conforming to the forms and 
ceremonies of the Church of England, whereupon 
Governor Endicott told them that "New England 
was no place for such as they," and sent them back 
to England. 

1 Winthrop, Vol. i, 342 note. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCR^VCY. 211 

The first resolutely to oppose the pretensions of the 
Theocracy was Roger Williams, the new minister at 
Salem. lie, too, like many other ministers, had been 
driven from England to escape the persecutions of 
Laud. John Quincy Adams describes him as ''the very 
impersonation of this combined conscientious, conten- 
tious spirit."^ He presented in his character the singu- 
lar combination of a frank and amiable nature with 
an uncontrollable appetite for disputation. lie went 
through life dissenting from ever37thing regarded by 
his fellow-men as established in government or in re- 
ligion. 

When the members of his own church refused to fol- 
low his advice to withdraw themselves from the other 
"unregenerate" churches in Massachusetts, he ex- 
communicated them by withdrawing himself from fel- 
lowship with them, opened meetings in his own house, 
and quarreled with his wife for persisting in continuing 
to worship in the church which he had just left. At 
last, toward the close of his life, he dissented from 
himself, and denounced as unsound the views of bap- 
tism which he himself had formerly advocated. 

He came to this countr}^ in 1631, and was called 
to the church in Salem, but it was not long until he 
began to advocate opinions which raised a great 
ferment and aroused violent opposition, and which, 
at the General Court in 1635, "were adjudged b}' 
all magistrates and ministers (who were desired to 

^ Address to Mass. His. Soc., Mass. His. Coll., 3d Ser., Vol. 9, p. 206. 
In this address Mr. Adams gives a very clear and strong presentation of 
the side of Massachusetts in the controversy with Williams which led 
to his banishment. 



212 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

be present) to be erroneous and very dangerous.'^ 
He insisted that all those who had ever partaken 
communion with the Church of England should make 
public repentance for having committed so great a sin. 
But his political opinions were still more shocking to 
the whole community. He contended that the colo- 
nists had been guilty of a great wickedness in accepting 
from the king their charter, and that they ought forth- 
with to surrender it; that it gave them no title to the 
lands which they occupied because, as he claimed, the 
king had no right to give to his subjects what belonged 
to the native Indians; that the magistrates had no right 
to punish violations of the Sabbath or any other 
violations of the first table; and that they had no 
right to administer an oath to an "unregenerate 
man," not even the oath of fidelity.-^ The author of 
the "Magnalia" assures us that the whole country 
was "like to be set on fire by the rapid motion of a 
wind-mill in the head of one particular man." 

Undoubtedly for the expression of such opinions in 
England, if he had remained there, he would have been 
hanged or burned at the stake. The colonists banished 
him, and, while we may condemn them for doing 
even this, all can rejoice that they inflicted no severer 
punishment. , 

For some years after his banishment he and the 
Rev. John Cotton bombarded each other at long 
range with books and tracts, bearing the gory titles 
of the "Bloody Tenent of Persecution," the "Bloody 
Tenent washed and made white in the Blood of the 
Lamb," and "the Bloody Tenent yet more Bloody." 

* Hubbard His. Nezv England, Mass. His. Coll., 2d Ser., Vol. 5, p. 
206; New England^s Memorial, 6th ed., p. 103. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 213 

In Liter 3'ears lie himself became shocked at the con- 
temptuous conduct of the Quakers and hurled a book 
at George Fox entitled, "George Fox digged out of 
his Burrowes," and declared that *'a due and moder- 
ate restraint and punishing" of their incivilities, 
''though pretending conscience, is so far from perse- 
cution, properly so called, that it is a duty and com- 
mand of God unto all mankind." 

Further evidence that Williams's opinions of polit- 
ical and religious toleration underwent some decided 
changes after his banishment from Massachusetts is 
afforded by his treatment of William Harris, who 
went with him from Salem and for a long time 
was his intimate friend. Afterwards there grew 
up a bitter feud between them, and Williams caused 
Harris's arrest for high treason, on account of utter- 
ances no more subversive of good government than 
those for which Williams himself had been banished 
from Massachusetts.^ Nevertheless, there are in the 
life of Williams some incidents that strikingly illus- 
trate his kindness of heart and the absence of the 
feeling of resentment which, after such treatment as 
he had received from the magistrates of INIassachu- 
setts, would long have rankled in the minds of most 
men. They are creditable to Winthrop also, but as 
much can not be said of his INIassachusetts associates. 
Whatever may have been the feelings of the Massa- 
chusetts authorities toward Williams after his ban- 
ishment, it is certain that, to the end of his life, 
while denouncing their religious intolerance, he en- 
tertained the most sincere affection for the people of 

* Palfrey, Vol. 2, p. 365; Doyle's English Colonies in America, Vol. 
I, p. 31S. 



214 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

the Massachusetts commonwealth. He and Win- 
throp continued to correspond with each other, and 
each seems to have held the other in affectionate re- 
membrance. It was the intention of the Massachu- 
setts authorities to send Williams back to England, 
but hearing of the plan he escaped and started upon 
his perilous and memorable journey through the 
wilderness. After his departure Winthrop wrote 
advising him to "steer his course" to the Narra- 
gansett Bay, because of the "freeness of the place 
from any English claims or pattents," and thither he 
went. Afterwards Williams repeatedly, and some- 
times at the risk of his life, interposed his mediation 
to reconcile the differences between the people of the 
commonwealth and their Indian foes, and to advise 
the authorities of the former of the latter's hostile 
plots. 

In 1676, when Williams was seventy-seven and his 
house had been burned, and he had been "in his old 
age reduced to an uncomfortable and disabled state," 
the Council of Massachusetts "out of compassion to 
him in this condition" passed an order "that if the 
sayd Mr. Williams shall see cause and desire it, he shall 
have liberty to repayre into any of our Towns for 
his security and comfortable abode during these 
Public Troubles, he behaving himself peaceably and 
inoffensively, and not dissemiiiating and venting 
any of his different opinions in matters of religion 
to the dissatisfaction of any.'''' 

This was very scant and very tardy justice to 
one who had done so much as Williams for the 
commonwealth in its times of trouble. If the author- 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 215 

ities in Massachusetts had acted more Hberally and 
more speedily they might have gained a little more 
credit, where they needed so much, for toleration. 

The next serious trouble was what is known as 
the Antinomian controversy. This began about 1636, 
and was chiefly stirred up by Mrs. Ann Hutchinson 
and her brother-in-law, John Wheelwright, one of the 
ministers in the new colony. Mrs. Hutchinson, a 
woman distinguished for her intelligence and sprightly 
wit, had heard the Rev. John Cotton in England and 
came to this country chiefly that she might again be 
fed b}' his discourses. She had very decided and 
original religious views of her own, which she did 
not hesitate to express, and which did not correspond 
exactly with those which were accepted by the major- 
ity of the colony ministers as orthodox. She also 
professed to have received divine revelations. She 
soon began to hold meetings at her house, at which the 
sermons of the ministers were discussed and criticised. 
*'It was not long," Cotton Mather tells us, "before 
'twas found that most of the errors, then crawling 
like vipers, about the countrey, were hatched at these 
meetings," held at the house of this "virago." Of 
the new doctrines taught b}' Mrs. Hutchinson, one 
was that most of the Boston ministers (Mr. Cotton 
excepted) were under a "covenant of works," and 
not under a "covenant of grace"; also that the}' were 
not "sealed"; and another, more intelligible and 
more exasperating to them, was that "the}'' were not 
abel ministers."^ 

Oliver states that "her disciples now denied, among 

^ Some of her "damnable doctrines" are enumerated in the Ma<r- 
nalia, Vol. 2, pp. 516, 517. 



2l6 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

other truths the obligation of the moral law, the im- 
mortality of the soul, and the resurrection of the dead; 
and a divine revelation had assured her of the destruc- 
tion of the Puritan commonwealth."^ But Mrs. 
Hutchinson, herself, did not advocate all these here- 
sies; at least she was not so charged in her subsequent 
trial. 

Her brother-in-law, Wheelwright, speedily be- 
came a convert to her views. John Cotton, if not 
won over by her teachings, evidently was deeply im- 
pressed by them. Sir Henry Vane was then governor. 
It is not certain how fully he understood or cared for 
the differences between Mrs. Hutchinson and Wheel- 
wright and the other ministers, or whether he sided 
with the Hutchinson and Wheelwright faction for 
religious or for political reasons. Oliver insinuates 
that he "embarked in the contention more to secure 
the leadership of a party than for any real interest he 
felt in the struggle," but it is more probable, consid- 
ering Vane's visionary temperament, that he was 
fascinated by the subtle novelty of the views of the 
remarkable woman who came so near captivating the 
entire Massachusetts commonwealth. At any rate. 
Vane became one of her most enthusiastic sup- 
porters. 

Shortly before the expiration of his term of office 
as governor. Vane declared that his private affairs re- 
quired him to abandon the office and return to Eng- 
land, and he requested permission to do so from the 
General Court. At the same time he gave a dramatic 
exhibition of his grief by bursting into tears when 

^Puritan Commonivealth, p. 178, 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 217 

speaking of the cruel necessity which compelled him 
to leave the country in its then distracted condition, 
which was owing largely, he thought, to the "scan- 
dalous imputation brought upon himself, as if he 
should be the cause of all." If, as Hutchinson in- 
timates, Vane was guilty of dissimulation in this the- 
atrical display, it did not have the desired effect upon 
the level-headed, practical and unimaginative Puri- 
tans of the INIassachusetts commonwealth, for they 
refused to accept his resignation and did not carry out 
the supposed Csesar programme by offering him the 
crown a second time. It is certainly true that Vane, 
notwithstanding his professed desire to resign, was 
entirely willing to remain and continue in the office 
of governor, else he would not have permitted his 
name to go before the people again as a candidate 
for that place. 

Many others, especially in Boston, became con- 
verts of Mrs. Flutchinson and Wheelwright, and a 
great commotion resulted. The people of Boston di- 
vided and the ministers divided, and the division 
threatened to extend throughout the commonwealth. 

To make matters worse. Wheelwright preached a 
sermon, which, whether correctl}' interpreted or not, 
was construed as a violent attack upon his brother 
ministers and gave them great offense. He was there- 
fore summoned to appear before the General Court 
to answer for his heretical teachings, and was ad- 
judged to be guilty of sedition, but no sentence was 
then pronounced. 

Thereupon a petition was presented to the General 
Court, signed by many prominent citizens of Boston 



2l8 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

and b3^some of the neighboring towns, remonstrating 
against the proceedings in Wheelwright's case. The 
remonstrance, even according to the version of it 
given by Welde, one of the most bitter of Wheel- 
wright's accusers, seems to have been temperate in 
its tone and contained nothing to warrant the sub- 
sequent proceedings against those who signed it.^ No 
attention was paid to the remonstrance at the time 
when it was presented. 

Here matters rested for a time. A general elec- 
tion was coming on. The candidate for governor of 
the majority of the ministers was Winthrop, while 
Vane was the candidate of the Hutchinson and 
Wheelwright party. Boston had become so deeply 
infected with heterodox notions that it was deemed 
unsafe by the Winthrop party to hold the election 
there, and a motion was made in the General Court 
to hold the election at Cambridge. Vane refused to 
put the motion, whereupon it was promptly put by 
Endicott and carried. Vane also attempted to pre- 
sent the petition in favor of Wheelwright, but the 
General Court refused to hear it until after the elec- 
tion. Election day was one of great and unusual 
excitement. "There was," sa3^s Winthrop, "great 
danger of a tumult that day; for those of that side 
[Wheelwright's] grew into fierce speeches, and 
some laid hands on others; but seeing themselves too 
weak, they grew quiet. "^ Wilson, one of the min- 

^ The copy preserved by Welde entitled "Remonstrance or Petition 
by Members of Boston Church, in favor of Wheelwright, March, 1637. 
Copied from the Book of their Antagonist, Thomas Welde, pp. 23-5," 
is given in Savage's edition of Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 4S1. See Doyle's 
English Colonies in America^ Vol. i, p. 131. 

2 Vol. I, p. 220, 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCR.\CY. 219 

isters, mounted a tree and haranorued the freemen in 
favor of Winthrop, making, it is said, the first 
* 'stump speech" ever made in America. 

The da}^ was carried, however, not by the oratory 
of Wilson, but by the great name of Winthrop. The 
country towns remained loyal to him and to the or- 
thodox ministers, and when the votes were counted 
it was found that Winthrop had been elected and 
that Vane and all of his party had been left out of 
office. Vane himself soon after left America never 
to return. 

The character of this celebrated man, prominent 
alike in the Massachusetts commonwealth and in 
England in the most stormy political periods in both 
countries, justifies more than a mere passing notice. 
Vane, indeed, furnishes a striking illustration of 
the difficulty of reaching an accurate conclusion con- 
cerning the character of any man prominent in the 
political affairs of his age. Accordingly as the writer 
leans to or against republicanism in politics and 
Puritanism in religion, his views are favorable or un- 
favorable to Vane. The great diversity of opinion 
respecting Vane appears in the extracts from other 
writers given us by Mr. Charles Wentworth Upham, 
his American biographer,^ and by Dr. Ellis in "The 
Puritan Age." 

That Vane was a man of great intellectual power 
and executive ability there can be no doubt. It seems 
to be equall}' clear that he was of that peculiar tem- 
perament which made him a visionary in relio-ious 
belief and an impracticable enthusiast in politics. 

1 Life of Sir Henry Vane, Vol. 4, Sparks's American Biography. 



2 20 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

But there is a wide and irreconcilable difference of 
opinion touching his character as a man. INIilton has 
immortalized him in verse, and Upham has portrayed 
him in the most favorable light. Mr. Fiske, also,^ 
eulogizes him in terms of highest praise. An al- 
together different impression is conveyed by Hutchin- 
son, who, as before stated, intimates that he was 
guilty of dissimulation in the weeping episode 
which characterized his attempted resignation as gov- 
ernor, and by Hume, who strongly intimates that, if 
both Vane and his father were not implicated in a 
deliberate and disreputable plot to procure the con- 
viction of the Earl of Strafford, the conduct of the son 
on that occasion was such as to justify a grave sus- 
picion at least with respect to his honor. 

There is also a wide diversity of opinion as to 
Vane's writings. Mackintosh is reported to have 
said that they displayed "astonishing powers." 
Hume, on the other hand, characterizes them as 
^'wholly unintelligible," and classes him among men 
of the greatest genius who "where they relinquish 
by principle the use of their reason, are only ena- 
bled, by their vigor of mind, to work themselves the 
deeper into error and absurdity." 

That which Vane's most enthusiastic admirers find 
the hardest to explain or excuse, is the part which 
he took, after his return to England, in the impeach- 
ment trial of the Earl of Strafford. The latter's 
conviction was based chiefly upon a copy, furnished 
by Vane to Pym, who conducted the impeachment 
proceedings, of some notes taken by his father (Sir 

^Beginnings of New England, pp. 116-117. 



RISE AND FAT.L OF THE THEOCRACY. 22 1 

Heniy \\ine, the elder), when secretary of the 
Privy Council, of alleged remarks made by Strafford 
in relation to the subjugation of Scotland. Among 
honorable men, independently of any law on the 
subject, the advice given by a lawyer to his client is 
regarded as a privileged communication of the highest 
character. ISIuch more so should be the advice given 
by a pri\y councilor to his sovereign. But the law 
added an express obligation of secrecy by requiring 
that every councilor, before taking his seat, should 
make oath that he would "keep secret all matters 
committed and revealed" to him in the council. If 
the disclosure of the notes taken by Vane's father 
"vvas procured by any collusion between them, it 
exposed both to the charge of basest perfidy. Un- 
fortunately for the fame of Vane there was enough 
to raise at least a strong suspicion that there was such 
collusion in the extraordinary' story told by him and his 
father explaining the manner in which the son got 
possession of the notes, and why he gave a copy 
of them to Pym. 

The story told by Vane, the son, at the impeach- 
ment trial, was that the father, being in the north of 
England, sent the keys to the boxes containing his pri- 
vate papers to his son, in order that the latter might 
make search for a paper necessar}' to the making of 
a settlement upon his wife. After having found the 
papers for which he was directed to make search, he 
was prompted, by mere curiosity^ to see what was in 
a red velvet cabinet^ wherein he found the notes 
taken by his father of Strafford's remarks in the 
Privy Council. These made such a profound impres- 



222 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

sion on him that he felt bound in conscience to 
show them to Pym, and "being confirmed by him 
that the seasonable discovery thereof might do no less 
than preserve the kingdom, consented that he should 
take a copy thereof; which to my knowledge he did 
faithfully; and thereupon I laid the original in the 
proper place again, in the red velvet cabinet." His 
father was present when this remarkable story was 
told by his son and he declared that this was the first 
knowledge he had of the manner in which the con- 
tents of his notes had been disclosed, and he pro- 
fessed to be deeply mortified and offended by the 
conduct of his son. What gave further strength to 
the suspicion that the marvelous stor}'^ of the discovery 
by the son of the father's notes was part of a con- 
cocted plot between them, was the fact that the father 
was a bitter enemy of Strafford, and the further fact 
that the father's notes were not corroborated by the 
testimon}^ of any of the councilors who were present 
when the alleged remarks of Strafford were said to 
have been made, four of whom, besides the elder 
Vane, testified at the trial. 

No one can read the account of this transaction 
as given by Hume^ without a strong impression that 
the conduct of Vane, if not perfidious, was at least very 
reprehensible. The account given by Upham, though 
the professed admirer and eulogist of Vane, does not 
remove this impression in the mind of one who can- 
didly and impartially weighs the evidence. The char- 
acter of Strafford, himself, bad as it was, and deserv- 
ing as he may have been of his fate, has no bearing 

^ His. England, Vol. 5, Chap. 54. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 223 

in determining the moralit}^ or the propriety of the 
conduct of Vane. 

This much, however, should be said in favor of 
Vane: that when he himself was led to the scaffold, 
the last victim to suffer death under the reign of 
Charles II for alleged political crimes committed in 
the preceding reign, he met death with manly forti- 
tude and heroic courage, and that, to the end of his 
life, he was the friend of the Massachusetts colonists. 

The Theocracy was now in full control, and the 
charges against Wheelwright were speedily pressed 
to a conclusion, resulting in his banishment. 

Attention was next turned to the arch-mischief- 
maker, Mrs. Hutchinson. From the brief account by 
Winthrop we do not get a very clear idea of the trial 
of Mrs. Hutchinson, but a full report of it is given 
b}^ the historian Hutchinson, one of her descendants.^ 
It is a humiliating record in which Winthrop, who' 
presided at the trial, cuts a sorry figure. "We have," 
says Dr. Ellis,^ "to fall back upon our profound im- 
pressions of the deep sincerity and integrity of his 
character, his singleness and devotion of purpose, 
and the consecration of his fortune and life to a be- 
loved work which he saw threatened with a dire and 
humiliating catastrophe, to read without some falter- 
ing or misgiving of approval, not to say with regret 
and reproach, the method with which he conducted 
the examination of this gifted and troublesome 
woman." 

No definite charges had been filed, so that the ac- 
cused could know certainly the precise nature of the 

* Vol. 2, App., p. 423, ct seq. 
' The Puritan Age, p. 336. 



2 24 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

accusations which were to be broug^ht against her and 
be prepared to meet them. Besides the governor, 
there were present at the trial, Thomas Dudley, the 
deputy governor, several of the assistants and depu- 
ties; and the ministers of Boston and the neighbor- 
ing towns were there in force, including the "Apos- 
tle" John Eliot, Thomas Welde, Flugh Peter, Thomas 
Shepard and others. 

Against this formidable array of those who were 
at once her enemies, her accusers, and her judges, the 
heroic woman stood alone, unrepresented by counsel 
or friend, but she bore herself with matchless skill 
and self-command and with undaunted courage. 

Winthrop opened the proceedings with the follow- 
ing arraignment: 

"Mrs. Hutchinson you are called here as one of those that 
have troubled the peace of the Commonwealth and the 
Churches here ; you are known to be a woman that hath 
had a great share in the promoting and divulging of those 
opinions that are causes of this trouble, and to be nearly 
joined not only in affinity and affection with some of those 
the Court hath taken notice of and pressed censure upon, 
but you have spoken divers things, as we have been in- 
formed, Very prejudicial to the honour of the Churches 
and ministers thereof; and you have maintained a meeting 
and an assembly in your house that hath been condemned 
by the general assembly as a thing not tolerable nor comely 
in the sight of God, nor fitting for your sex and notwith- 
standing that 'twas cried down, you have continued the 
same." 

To this vague accusation, Mrs. Hutchinson an- 
swered: 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 225 

"I am called here to answer before )'Ou, but I hear no 
things laid to my charge." 

Then there was a sharp running debate between 
her and the governor, in which Mrs. Hutchinson 
certainly held her own and finally forced Winthrop 
to fall back upon the bald statement, which Mrs. 
Hutchinson could not gainsay: "We are your judges, 
and not you ours, and we must compel you to it." 

The deputy governor and various elders in turn 
essayed debate with Mrs. Hutchinson, but she met 
their arguments with such dexterity, and quoted 
scripture so abundantly, that all were worsted in the 
encounter. 

Mrs. Hutchinson then desired that her accusers 
might be required to "speak upon oath," especially 
as they were "witnesses in their own cause." The 
ministers manifested much reluctance to testify un- 
der oath, and for a time the trial proceeded without 
any oath being required, and a rambling cross-fire 
ensued, carried on between Mrs. Hutchinson and 
various members of the court and several of the 
ministers present. But Mrs. Hutchinson still insisted 
that her accusers, though ministers, should be sworn. 

At this stage of the proceedings, neither Mrs. 
Hutchinson nor the others present having any clear 
idea of what the trial was about, Governor Win- 
throp found it necessary to make a further statement 
of the charges, which he did as follows: 

"Gov. Let us state the case and then we may know 
what to do. That which is laid to Mrs. Hutchinson's 
charge is this, that she hath traduced the magistrates and 
Pur. Rep. — 15 



2 26 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

ministers of this jurisdiction, that she hath said the minis- 
ters preached a covenant of works and Mr. Cotton a cove- 
nant of grace, and that they were not able ministers of the 
Gospel, and she excuses it that she made it a private con- 
ference and a promise of secrecy &c., — now this is charged 
upon her, and they therefore sent for her, seeing she made 
it her table talk, and then she said the fear of man was a 
snare, and therefore she would not be afraid of them. 

"Mrs. H. This that yourself hath spoken I desire that 
they may take their oaths upon." 

The debate was resumed on the question of swear- 
ing the accusers. The ministers were still reluctant 
to be put on oath. Mr. Shepard said: "I know 
no reason of the oath but the importunity of this 
gentlewoman." Mr. Peter said: "We are tender 
of it"; and the governor asked: "Shall we not 
believe so many Godly elders in a cause wherein 
we know the mind of the party without their 
testimony?" Mr. Eliot thought that the proper 
method of proceeding was to examine the accused 
and her witnesses first. "We desire," he said, 
" to know of her and her witnesses ivhat they 
deny^ and then we shall speak upon oath." Mr. 
Harlakenden wanted to have her "put any pas- 
sage unto them and see what they say," whereupon 
Mrs. Hutchinson promptly answered: "They say I 
said *the fear of man is a snare, why should I be 
afraid?' When I came unto them, they urging many 
things unto me and I being backward to answer at 
first, at length this scripture came unto my mind, 
xxixth Prov. 25. *The fear of man bringeth a snare: 
but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 227 

safe.' " To this, all that the Rev. Mr. Ilarlakendcn 
had to say was: "This is not an essential thing," but 
he asked Mrs. Hutchinson no more questions. 

During the discussion about swearing the accusers, 
Mr. Bishop, one of the deputies, ventured to ask 
this question: "I desire to know before they be put 
to oath, whether their testimony be of validity?" 
Whereupon he was frowned down by the deputy 
governor in this style: "What do you mean to 
trouble the court with such questions? INIark wHat a 
flourish Mrs. Hutchinson puts upon the business that 
she had witnesses to disprove what was said, and 
there is no man to bear witness." Mr. Coggshall, 
one of the Boston deputies, suggested that it was 
"desired that the elders would confer with Mr. Cotton 
before they swear," to which Endicott replied: "I 
will tell you what I say. I think this carriage of yours 
tends to further casting dirt upon the face of the 
judges." 

Then it was determined to call Mrs. Hutchinson's 
witnesses first, and Mr. Coggshall and Mr. Leveret 
were called. Mr. Coggshall was quickly disposed of: 

"Dep. Gov. Let her witnesses be called. 

"Gov. Who be they? 

"Mrs. H. Mr. Leveret and our teacher Mr. Coggshall. 

"Gov. Mr. Coggshall was not present. 

"Mr. Coggshall. Yes I was, only I desired to be silent 
till I should be called. 

"Gov. Will you Mr. Coggshall say she did not say so? 

"Mr. Coggshall. Yes, I dare say that she did not say all 
that which they lay against her. 

"Mr. Peters [one of the ministers.] How dare you look 
unto the Court to say such a word? 



228 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

"Mr. Coggshall. Mr. Peters takes upon him to forbid 
me. I shall be silent " 

The substance of Mr. Leveret's testimony was 
that Mrs. Hutchinson's explanation of the difference 
between Cotton and the other ministers was, not that 
the latter did not preach a covenant of grace, but 
that they did not preach it ^'so clearly as Cotton did." 

During the trial Mr. Cotton came in and seated him- 
self beside Mrs. Hutchinson, and, after Coggshall and 
Leveret had been heard, the governor asked Cotton 
to declare what he remembered of Mrs. Hutchin- 
son's words at the conference in question. It was 
a trying ordeal for this noted minister. If he had 
not been converted to Mrs. Hutchinson's views he 
had been deepl}^ impressed by them. "It is diffi- 
cult," says Hutchinson,^ "to discover from Mr. Cot- 
ton's own account of his principles, published ten 
years afterwards in his answer to Bailey, wherein he 
differed from her." He evidently wished to testify in 
a way to shield Mrs. Hutchinson as much as possible, 
but he knew that he himself was under suspicion, 
and that all around him were catching his every 
word and watching his every look and gesture. 
For a time it seemed as if he, and not Mrs. Hutch- 
inson, was the accused, and one of the ministers (Mr. 
Bartholomew) , apparently forgetting that it was the 
former who was on trial, desired "to clear Mr. Cot- 
ton." The deputy governor wanted to know of 
him whether he did "approve of Mrs. Hutchinson's 
revelations as she hath laid them down," and Endi- 
cott bluntly asked him: "Whether do j^ou witness 

iVol. I, p. 73. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 229 

for her or against her '" ; and the deputy governor, after 
hearing his explanation, told him: "Sir, you weary 
me and do not satisfy me." Others prodded Mr. 
Cotton until the governor came to his relief by say- 
ing: *']Mr. Cotton is not called upon to answer to 
anything, but we are to deal with the part}' here 
standing before us." 

Then Mr. Coddington (himself afterward ban- 
ished) desired "to speake a word," and asked: "What 
if she designed to edify her own family in her own 
meetings, may none else be present?" But the gov- 
ernor summaril}^ cut him off with the answer: "If 
you have nothing else to say but that, it is pity, Mr. 
Coddington, that 3-ou should interrupt us in proceed- 
ing to censure." Coddington, however, persisted in 
expressing his opinion. He, alone, in all the as- 
sembly, had the courage to oppose its action and to 
state his reasons. He insisted that there was "no 
law of God that she hath broken, nor an}- law of the 
country that she hath broke"; that she was accused 
only of what she had spoken in private to the elders; 
that they had no right to make it public, and that it 
was they and not she who "have broken the rules of 
God's word." 

Stoughton was one of those present who had 
scruples about finding Mrs. Hutchinson guilty on tlr^ 
unsworn statements of her accusers " because," he 
said, "she hath not been formally convicted as others 
are by witnesses upon oath," and at this stage of the 
proceedings he again insisted that they be sworn, 
whereupon the governor said: "In regard ^Nlr. 
Stoughton is not satisfied, to the end all scruples may 



230 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

be removed we shall desire the elders take their 
oaths." 

"Here, now,'' continues the record, "was a great 
whispering among the ministers; some drew back, 
others were animated on." Then Mr. Eliot and Mr. 
Welde were sworn and testified as follows: 

"Mr. Eliot. I do remember and I have it written that 
which she spake first was, the fear of man is a snare, why- 
should she be afraid^ but would speak freely. The question 
being asked whether there was a difference between Mr. 
Cotton and us, she said there was a broad difference, I 
would not stick upon the words — the thing she said — and 
that Mr. Cotton did preach a covenant of grace and we of 
works, and she gave this reason — to put a work in point of 
evidence is a revealing upon a work. We did labor then to 
convince her that our doctrine was the same with Mr. Cot- 
ton's; She said no, for we were not sealed. That is all 
that I shall say. 

"Gov. What say you, Mr. Weld? 

"Mr. Weld. I will speak to the things themselves — these 
two things I am fully clear in — she did make a difference in 
three things the first I was not so clear in, but that she said 
this I am fully sure of, that we were not able ministers of 
the New Testament, and that we were not clear in our ex- 
perience because we were not sealed. 

"Mr, Eliot. I do further remember that also, that she 
said we were not able ministers of the gospel, because we 
were like the apostles before the ascension." 

The report records the wretched conclusion of this 
miserable judicial farce as follows: 

"Gov. The Court hath already declared themselves sat- 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 231 

isfied conccrniniT the things you hear, and concerning the 
troublesomeness of her spirit and the danger of her course 
amongst us, which is not to be suffered. Therefore if it be 
the mind of the Court that Mrs. Hutchinson, for these things 
that appear before us, is unfit for our society, and if it be 
the mind of the Court that she shall be banished out of our 
liberties and imprisoned till she be sent away, let them hold 
up their hands. 

"All but three. 

"Those that are contrary minded hold up yours. 

"Mr Coddington and Mr. Colburn only. 

"Mr. Jenaison [a deputy of Ipswich] I can not hold up 
my hand one way or the other, and I shall give my reason 
if the court require it. 

"Gov. Mrs. Hutchinson, the sentence of the court, you 
hear it, that you are banished from out of our jurisdiction as 
being a woman not fit for our society, and are to be im- 
prisoned till the Court shall send you away. 

"Mrs. H. I desire to know wherefore I am banished? 

"Gov. Say no more, the Court knows wherefore, and is 
satisfied." 

Mrs. Hutchinson had been cast out and the min- 
isters had solemnly adjudged themselves to be "able 
ministers," but the Massachusetts commonwealth 
was still a long way from religious liberty. 

Winthrop tells us that "because it was winter they 
committed her to a private house, where she was well 
provided, and her own friends and the elders per- 
mitted to go to her, but none else."^ She was im- 
prisoned in the house of Mr. Joseph Welde (brother 
of the minister) of Roxbur3\ While there the elders 
labored with her, but in vain. "When subjected," 

* Vol. I, pp. 246-7. 



232 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

says Savage,* *'to the perpetual buzzing of the cler- 
ical tormentor, she must have been more than woman, 
not to prove incorrigible." She "persisted in main- 
taining those gross errors beforementioned, and many- 
others, to the number of thirty or thereabout," 
and so "the church, with one consent, cast her out,"^ 
and soon afterward she was banished from the com- 
monwealth. She and her husband went to Aquid- 
neck in what is now Rhode Island. He died in 1642, 
and in 1643 she and most of her family were murdered 
by the Indians at one of the Dutch settlements in New 
York near the west end of Long Island. No nam.es are 
more honored in Massachusetts to-da}^ than those of 
some of her patriotic and distinguished descendants.^ 
Mrs. Hutchinson having been disposed of, the 
General Court next proceeded to put upon the rack 
those who had signed the remonstrance against the 
prosecution of the charges against Wheelwright, and 
they were severely dealt with. Some, including 
William Coddington and John Coggshall, who 
were especially obnoxious because they had favored 
Mrs. Hutchinson on her trial, were banished, 
and a large number, including several prominent 
citizens of Eoston and the other towns, were humil- 
iated by being ordered to give up all their arms 
and ammunition.* "The confusion in the colony 

^ Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 247 note. 

^ Winthrop, Vol. i, pp. 254, 258. 

'The Puritan historians do not fail to record the Divine judgments 
visited upon Mrs. Hutchinson after her banishment, and Winthrop and 
Cotton Mather both relate, with disgusting detail, the ridiculous stories 
about her having been delivered of thirty monstrous births, "none of 
any humane shape " corresponding in number with the monstrous opin- 
ions of which she had been convicted. Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 271; 
Magnalia, Vol. 2, p. 19. 

* Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 247. 



RISE AND FALT. OF THE THEOCRACY. 233 

occasioned by these religious disputes," sa3's Hutchin- 
son, "was very great, and it appears from the letters 
then wrote from England, that they made great noise 
there. "1 

The great Cotton himself narrowly escaped. Prior 
to the trial of ]Mrs. Hutchinson, his brother minis- 
ters, fearing that he had become contaminated by his 
association with Mrs. Hutchinson and Wheelwright, 
had labored with him in order to eradicate the hid- 
den germs of religious heres}-, and with such success 
that the differences between Cotton and his brethren 
diminished "so as, except men of good understand- 
ing, and such as knew the bottom of the tenets of 
those of the other party, few could see where the dif- 
ference was."^ To make sure that he had been 
thoroughly disinfected, he was subjected to a rigid 
inspection. Some of the ministers "drew out six- 
teen points" upon which he was closely catechised. 
"Some doubts he well cleared, but in some others 
he gave not satisfaction."^ At the trial of Mrs. 
Hutchinson the Theocracy was at high tide, and it 
was then undoubtedl}- evident to Cotton, as it was to 
ever}- one else, that little more effort would be made 
to persuade him, and that, if he dared openly to 
avow the sentiments of Mrs. Hutchinson and Wheel- 
wright, he would as certainly and as relentlessl}- be 
swept away as they had been. Cotton therefore 
yielded and persisted in his effort to regain his former 
standing until he had sufficiently established his or- 

»Vol. I, p. 73. 

* Winthrop, Vol. i. p. 221. 

'Wintlirop, Vol. i, p. 212. 



234 "^^^ PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

thodoxy, ^ 'and by that means," says Hubbard,* 'Mid 
that reverend and worthy minister of the gospel re- 
cover his former splendour," and thereafter he con- 
tinued to be a bright and shining light and chosen 
champion against all "errors." 

In 1646 what seemed at first to be a very for- 
midable and dangerous opposition appeared in the 
form of a petition presented to the General Court by 
William Vassal, Samuel Maverick, Robert Child and 
others, complaining of the failure of the colony to 
acknowledge the supremacy of the laws of England, 
and the denial to those, who were not members of 
the churches recognized by the colonists as orthodox, 
of their civil and religious rights as Englishmen, and 
praying that they might be allowed the privileges 
then refused them or be freed from the tfixes and 
other burdens imposed upon them, and concluding 
"with an ominous threat that, if their petition were not 
granted, "we and they shall be necessitated to apply 
our humble desires to the Honorable Houses of Par- 
liament." Their petition having been refused, they 
prayed an appeal to the Commissioners of Planta- 
tions in England, but this prayer was also refused. 
Some of them being about to start to England to lay 
in their complaints, their papers were seized, and 
among them was found a 'petition to the Commis- 
sioners of Plantations, alleging the grievances com- 
plained of in the petition to the General Court, and 
praying the same relief, also charging various usur- 
pations of authority and treasonable conduct and 
speeches of the authorities and ministers, and asking 

^Hist. N. E., Mass. Hist. Coll., 2d Ser., Vol. 5, p. 302. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 235 

the appointment of a royal governor ''or some hon- 
ourable commissioners." 

The signers to the petition were heavily fined. 
Maverick and Child and some others got back to 
England and there renewed their complaints, causing 
the colonists great alarm; but Cromwell and the In- 
dependents were then in power in England and they 
were the steadfast friends of the authorities in Massa- 
chusetts. iNIr. Winslow was instructed to defend the 
colonists against the petitioners, "and by his prudent 
management and the credit and esteem he was in 
with many of the members of parliament and prin- 
cipal persons then in power, he prevented any pre- 
judice to the colony'. "^ 

Notwithstanding the fact that so many heretics had 
been banished or subdued, religious controversies did 
not cease. The Baptists had not yet been effectually 
silenced and another humiliating chapter was added 
to the history of religious persecutions in Massachu- 
setts. The law against the Baptists, passed in 1644, 
has alread}' been mentioned. Numbers of them were 
fined, whipped and banished. 

The treatment of John Clarke, John Crandall, and 
Obadiah Holmes illustrates the severity with which 
the Baptists were persecuted. All of them were 
prominent citizens of Rhode Island, who had fled to 
that colony from Massachusetts on account of their 
religious belief. Clarke and Holmes were Baptist 
ministers. The latter had been educated at Oxford. 
In 1 65 1, William Witter, an aged, blind and infirm 
Baptist at Lynn, requested that some of his Baptist 

* Hutchinson, Vol. i, pp. 136-140. 



236 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

brethren in Rhode Island might be sent to administer 
the sacrament to him, and Clarke, Crandall and 
Holmes visited him for that purpose. Before this 
time Holmes had rendered himself specially obnox- 
ious to the Massachusetts authorities. On the next 
day, Sunday, two constables entered Witter's house, 
where Clarke was preaching to a few friends, and 
arrested the preacher and his companions. As the 
beginning of their punishment, they were taken 
to the orthodox church in Lynn and compelled to 
listen to the preaching of the minister, Mr. Whiting. 
The next day they were taken to Boston and impris- 
oned. Cotton, after his escape from condemnation 
as a heretic, never lost an opportunity of parading 
his own orthodoxy, and he improved the present oc- 
casion by preaching a sermon, in which he is reported 
to have said, "that denying Infants Baptism would 
overthrow all, and this was a capitall offence; and, 
ih^xoioxQ^^theyiverefoul murthiirers.'''' Endicott, in 
order to impress upon them the leniency of the 
authorities, told them that they deserved to die, but 
that their lives would be spared. All were fined, 
Holmes being fined most heavily, with the further 
penalty of being whipped for non-payment. Holmes 
refusing to pay, or to allow his friends to pay, his 
fine, was stripped and flogged. While he was being 
so punished, two of the bystanders, taking pity upon 
him, shook hands with him and expressed their sym- 
pathy, whereupon they also were fined. So fully had 
the spirit of persecution possessed the authorities that 
they caused the old and blind Witter to be presented 



RISE AND PWLL OF THE THEOCRACY. 237 

to the next Salem court, "for neglecting discourses 
aud he'n2g rebapiizedy^ 

A few years later (in 1654) Henry Dunster, the 
first president of Harvard College, was degraded 
from office for his denial of the validity of infant bap- 
tism. 

There were other persecutions of the Baptists, but, 
notwithstanding the fines, imprisonments and banish- 
ments, the}' persisted in maintaining their faith. The 
opposition to the persecution of men for their relig- 
ious opinions grew steadil}', and every new persecu- 
tion increased the popular discontent, until in 1665 
the Baptists established a church in Boston, where 
they have maintained a church organization from 
that day to this. 

Other far more persistent and more resolute foes 
now appeared to oppose and plague the pious Puri- 
tans. George Fox, the Quaker, had appeared in 
England, and he and his converts had thrown that 
kingdom into a tumult by their outlandish conduct 
and crazy utterances. Some of his disciples crossed 
the Atlantic, and in 1656 two Quaker women, Ann 
Austin and Mar}^ Fisher, boldly invaded the Massa- 
chusetts commonwealth. The}' seemed to take de- 
light in tormenting and defying the authorities. The 
laws enacted against them have been mentioned. 
The fines, imprisonments and scourgings, which 
were inflicted for violations of these laws, proved 
utterly unavailing to keep out or to drive out these, 
by far the most persistent of all the "pestilent here- 
tics" who had ever before opposed or vexed the com- 

^ III N'e-.vcs from Nezv England, 2 Mass. His. Coll., 4th Scr., p. i, 
et seq.; The Puritan Age, pp. 390-4. 



238 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

monwealth authorities. Then banishment followed. 
The penalty for returning after banishment was 
death. But some of those banished persisted in re- 
turning, as if for the express purpose of defying the 
authorities of the commonwealth, regardless of the 
legal penalty. 

To the authorities it seemed that to waver now 
was virtually, not only to surrender to law-breakers, 
but to abdicate in their favor. The authorities did not 
waver. One of those who had returned after ban- 
ishment was sentenced to be hanged. But still the 
Quakers came. Then another was sentenced to be 
hanged, and then another, and then another, until 
four ghastly corpses, three men and one woman, hung 
in sight of heaven and men — mute witnesses, more con- 
vincing by far in death than in life, giving awful proof 
of the impotency of the Theocracy to make all Gt)d's 
children think alike, and of the immutable fact that 
hanging a man, who sincerely believes that he is 
right, is the least effective of all arguments to con- 
vince him that he is wrong. 

There was one more death sentence — that of Wen- 
lock Christison — but it never was executed. There 
were to be no more hangings in the Massachusetts 
commonwealth of men and women for their opinions. 
*'The compassion of the people," says Hutchinson, 
*'was moved, and man}' resorted to the prison by day 
and night, and upon a representation of the keeper a 
constant watch was kept round the prison to keep 
people off."^ 

The law affixing the death penalty for the return of 

iVol. I, p. 185. 



RISE AND FAT.T. OF THE THEOCRACY. 239 

banished Quakers had been passed by a slender ma- 
jority. When the victims of the former trials were 
led to the scaffold armed troops accompanied them to 
the place of execution, and patrols were posted about 
the town to prevent an uprising of the people and a 
possible rescue. The popular discontent was unmis- 
takable and threatening. Upon the trial of Christison 
the triers manifested unwonted hesitation. They de- 
liberated two weeks, and only the overpowering influ- 
ence of Endicott induced them to yield an unwilling 
verdict. The sentence never was executed. The exe- 
cution of it might have precipitated a rebellion. 

Next came a messasre from the kins' of Engfland, 
commanding that there should be no more executions 
and that those confined in prison should be sent to 
England for trial. To the imperious will of Endi- 
cott was presented the hard alternative of releasing 
the prisoners, or acknowledging the right of English 
courts to try offenders against the laws of the com- 
monwealth. The consequences to be apprehended 
from the latter course were to be feared far more 
than the consequences of the first, and so the bolts 
were loosed and men came forth free who had ex- 
pected never more to walk in heaven's sunshine ex- 
cept from the prison to the scaffold.^ 

There were more whippings and civil punishments 
after that, but at last the bloody record was closed; 
*'the contest of will was at an end. The trial that 
was to decide which party would hold out longest 
had been made and the Quakers had conquered."^ 

'The poet Whittier has commemorated the glad day for the Qiiakers 
in the "King's Missive," to which poem is given the post of honor in 
the Memorial History of Boston. 

3 Palfrey, Vol. j, p. 481. 



XI 

RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY 

We can not severely censure the authorities of the 
commonwealth for their harsh treatment of some 
whom they refused to tolerate. Soon after the settle- 
ment of the colony there began to flock thither from 
England men with all kinds of notions, which they 
were not backward in propagating and which were 
subversive, or thought to be so, not only of the re- 
ligious, but of the political foundations of the com- 
monwealth. "They were all," says Oliver,^ who 
can not be suspected of a desire to excuse or apologize 
for Puritan intolerance, "characterized by offensive 
qualities, and some of their peculiarities almost justify 
the extravagant language in which the Puritan his- 
torian was accustomed to clothe his relations." 

Of these the Familists were fair samples, and, in 
speaking of them, Oliver seems to be "almost per- 
suaded" to take the side of the Puritans. Of the 
Familists he says: 

"Among the first victims of the Puritan Church were the 
Familists. These singular maniacs, who styled diemselves 
'The Family of Love,' owed their origin to David George, 
of Delft, an enthusiast who believed himself the Messiah. 

^ The Picritatt Commoti-wealth, p. 194. 

(240) 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 24 1 

They branched off into the various sects of Grindletonians, 
Familists of the Mountains, of the Valleys, of Cape Order, 
of the Scattered Flock, etc. They renounced the principal 
doctrines of Christianity, which they held to be superseded 
by the advent of David George, and are said to have prac- 
ticed among themselves the grossest libertinism."^ 

The effect of their teachings is seen in the case of 
Samuel Gorton, one of the most noted of the Fami- 
lists, who, w^herever he went, immediately stirred up 
a quarrel, not onl}' with the churches, but also with 
the civil authorities. The toleration of such fanatics 
would have been much more difficult and much more 
dangerous, at that period in the histor}- of the com- 
monwealth, than would be the toleration of anarchists 
in any of the states in the Union to-day. 

The same excuse can not, however, be made for 
the persecutions of the Baptists and the Quakers. It 
has sometimes been attempted to excuse the hanging 
of the Quakers on the ground that they were not 
hanged for persisting in their religious opinions, but 
for returning after banishinent. For a long time the 
standard apology was expressed, with more or less 
elaboration, but substantially according to the follow- 
ing formula: 

"A law was passed prohibiting Quakers from coming into 
the colony, imposing the penalty of banishment upon the 
first offence, and of death upon such as should return after 
banishment. Four, who were so infatuated as to return 
and obtrude themselves upon the notice of the government, 
suffered the death which they appeared to seek."* 

1 The Puritan ComvwmvealtJi, p. 194. 
* Hale's His. United States, p. 37. 
Pur. Rep. — 16 



242 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

This does not help the matter, for, as main- 
tained by Mr. Hallowell and the Quaker historians, 
the rulers of the commonwealth had no more au- 
thority to banish the Quakers than they had to hang 
them. The claim of right to banish them is based 
upon the assumption that the country belonged to 
the Massachusetts Compan}', and that the members 
of it had a lawful right to admit or to keep out whom 
they pleased, and that, when they found an}^ here 
whose religious views and practices conflicted with 
their own, they were justified in treating such comers 
as intruders and in expelling them from the com- 
pany's territory. 

But the assumption upon which this argument is 
based has no solid foundation. It is incredible that 
King Charles or the Parliament intended to couple 
with the gift of the large territory granted to the 
Puritans authority to keep out of it every one that 
did not profess the latter's religious opinions — even 
members of the established church of England. No' 
clause in the charter can be so distorted as to bear 
such a construction. On the contrary it was ex- 
pressly provided in the charter, 

"That all and every of the subjects of us, our Heirs and 
Successors, which shall goe to and inhabite within the saide 
Lands and Premises hereby mentioned to be graunted, and 
every of their Children which shall happen to be borne 
there, or on the seas in going thither, or retorning from 
thence, shall have and enjoy all liberties and Immunities of 
free and Natural subjects within any of the Domynions of 
Us, our Heirs or Successors, to all intents. Constructions, 
and Purposes whatsoever, as yf they and everie of them 
were borne within the Realm of England." 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 243 

With respect to the right of Baptists, Quakers, and 
others that were not Puritans, to come here and Hve 
here, and enjoy their own rehgious views and methods 
of worship as freely as they might in England, we must 
admit that this much at least was guaranteed by the 
charter itself. And a fair and reasonable interpreta- 
tion of the charter leads to the conclusion that there 
was nothing in it justifying their exclusion from the 
exercise of the right to vote and from other privileges 
of citizenship. 

Another claim urged in behalf of the Puritans is, 
that the commonwealth would have gone to pieces if 
unlimited religious tolerance had been permitted; 
but jNIr. Charles Francis Adams^ answers this by 
showing that, upon a similar assumption, the defense 
of religious intolerance at all times and in all coun- 
tries has been based. 

So that, after all, the most that can be said in pal- 
liation of these Puritan persecutions is, that the per- 
secutors were sincere in their belief that they had a 
right to do as they did, and that, in entertaining and 
acting on such belief, they were no more intolerant 
than were other civilized people of the same period. 

Of the Quakers it may be said further that they 
gave such provocation as was certain in that age, 
and would be almost as certain in this, to arouse 
the most angry and hostile opposition. For the 
Quakers of those times were as different from the 
Quakers of to-day as the Puritans were different 
from their descendants who are now living. 

It has been asserted that the Quaker women carried 

* Massachusetts, Its Historians and Its History. 



244 "^^^ PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

their insulting defiance to the extent of exhibiting- 
themselves in a nude condition to the gaze of Puritans 
assembled for religious worship. This is not denied 
by their defender, Mr. Hallowell, but his explanation 
is that the women who so acted were not in their 
right minds, or that they were goaded to such un- 
seemly exhibitions by Puritan persecutions. Be this 
as it may, it can not be denied that the Quakers went 
far beyond the bounds of propriety and decency in 
their efforts to annoy and tantalize the Puritans. 

In our own d^y the conduct of the Salvation Army 
has often provoked riots. But the wildest antics of 
the Salvationists bear no comparison to the carefully 
premeditated and offensive insults of the Quakers to 
the Puritans. Sometimes these gentle disciples of 
Fox would run howling through the streets, pro- 
claiming that the Lord was coming with fire and 
sword to exterminate their Puritan brethren; at 
other times they appeared in the churches in out- 
landish garb, sometimes with blackened faces, and 
openly reviled the preacher and denounced woe upon 
the congregation; at other times they broke empty 
bottles before the preacher's face, reminding him of 
his emptiness and that the Lord would likewise dash 
him in pieces. 

Hutchinson wrote his "Histor}- of Massachusetts" a' 
hundred 3'ears after the Quaker persecutions. He is 
generally regarded as a careful and accurate histo- 
rian. He is certainly not a thick and thin apolo- 
gist for the Puritans. He says:^ 

"Some at Salem, Hampton, Newbury and other places, 

^His. Mass., Vol, i, p, 187. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 245 

for disorderly behaviour, putting people in terror, coming 
into the congregations and calling to the minister in the 
time of public worship, declaring their preaching, &c., to 
be an abomination to the Lord, and other breaches of the 
peace, were ordered to be whipped by the authority of the 
county courts or particular magistrates. At Boston one 
George Wilson, and at Cambridge Elizabeth Horton, went 
crying through the streets, that the Lord was coming with 
lire and sword to plead with them. Thomas Newhouse 
went into the meeting-house at Boston with a couple of 
glass bottles, and broke them before the congregation, and 
threatened, 'Thus will the Lord break you in pieces.' An- 
other time M. Brewster came in with her face smeared and 
as black as a coal. Deborah Wilson went through the 
streets of Salem, naked as she came into the world, for 
which she was well whipped. For these and such like 
disturbances they might be declared proper subjects either 
of a mad-house or house of correction, and it is to be 
lamented that any greater severities were made use of." 

Such conduct in any church to-day would proba- 
bly provoke rough handling of the intruder. It cer- 
tainly would land him in jail, and he might deem 
himself lucky if he escaped with no worse punish- 
ment. 

Long before the end of the commonwealth itself 
hostile forces were slowly but surely undermining the 
power of the Theocracy. The Theocracy contained 
in itself the elements of its own destruction. It was 
based upon the idea of forcing all men to believe 
alike. The effort to do so always breeds discord, 
and the men who attempt it generally end by dis- 
agreeing among themselves. That was the course 
of the Massachusetts Theocracy. The members of 



246 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

it not only failed in their effort to compel others to 

believe as they did, but they were continually dis- 
aofreeinof with one another. 

New doctrines and new sects soon began to spring 
up with amazing rapidity. The attempts to repress 
them only strengthened them and created further 
schisms. Ever37^ day it was becoming more and more 
difficult to designate those of the genuine orthodox 
stamp. "Eighty-two ^pestilent heresies' were counted 
as having already sprung up in 1637; others say one 
hundred and six; others two hundred and ten."^ 

At the first synod held at Newtown, in 1637, "there 
were about eighty opinions, some blasphemous, others 
erroneous, and all unsafe, condemned by the whole 
assembl3\"^ 

Besides the "erroneous opinions" discussed by the 
synod in 1637 there were also found to be nine "un- 
wholesome expressions " and divers " scriptures 
abused." What these erroneous and heretical opin- 
ions were "is written," says Mr. Savage,^ "in ^A 
short Story of the Rise, Reign and Ruin of Antino- 
mians, Familists, and Libertines, that infected the 
churches of New England,' by Thomas Welde, who 
was one of the chief inquisitors." 

But it is not material to the modern layman what 
were the heretical opinions, since those approved by 
the synod as orthodox are equally unintelligible. 

"After the errors condemned, there were five points in 
question, between Mr. Cotton and Mr. Wheelwright on the 

IT. W. Higginson: The Puritan Minister, 12 Atl. Mon. 265-278. 
2 Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 238. See Ellis, Puritan Age, 330-333. 
■'Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 238, note 1. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 247 

one part, and the rest of the ciders on the other part, which 
were after reduced to three, and those after put into such 
expressions as Mr. Cotton and they agreed, but Mr. Wheel- 
wright did not: 

"I. The first was about our union with Christ. The 
question was, whether we were united before we had active 
faith. The consent was, that there was no marriage union 
with Christ before actual faith, which is more than habitual. 

"2. The second was, about evidencing justification by 
sanctification. The consent was, that some saving sancti- 
fications (as faith, etc. ) were coexistent, concurrent, and 
coapparent (or at least might be) with the witness of the 
Spirit always. 

"3. That the new creature is not the person of a be- 
liever, but a body of saving graces in such a one ; and that 
Christ, as a head, doth enliven or quicken, preserve and act 
the same, but Christ himself is no part of this new creature. 

"4. That though, in effectual calling, (in which the an- 
swer of the soul is by active faith, wrought at the same in- 
stant by the Spirit,) justification and sanctification be all 
together in them ; yet God doth not justify a man, before he 
be effectually called, and so a believer. 

"5. That Christ and his benefits may be offered and ex- 
hibited to a man under a covenant of works, but not in or 
by a covenant of works."* 

Moreover "other opinions brake out publicly in the 
church of Boston, — as that the Holy Ghost dwelt in a be- 
liever as in Heaven ; that a man is justified before he be- 
lieves; and that faith is no cause of justification. And oth- 
ers spread more secretly, — as that the letter of the scripture 
holds forth nothing but a covenant of works ; and that the 
covenant of grace was the spirit of the scripture, which 
was known only to believers; and that this covenant of 
works was given by Moses in the ten commandments , that 

' Winlhrop, Vol. i, p. 239. 



248 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

there was a seed (viz., Abraham's carnal seed) went along- 
in this, and there was a spirit and life in it, by virtue 
whereof a man might attain to any sanctification in gifts and 
graces, and might have spiritual and continual communion 
with Jesus Christ, and yet be damned. After, it was 
granted, that faith was before justification, but it was only 
passive, an empty vessel, etc. ; but in conclusion, the 
ground of all was found to be assurance by immediate reve- 
lation. 

"All the congregation of Boston, except four or five, 
closed with these opinions, or the most of them ; but one 
of the brethren wrote against them, and bore witness to the 
truth ; together with the pastor, and very few others joined 
with them." * 

It was in 1636, during the Antinomlan troubles, 
that religious vagaries and the dissensions growing 
out of them reached their greatest height. Few now 
know what were the doctrines included under the 
term Antinomianism. They are not quite so inter- 
esting as the relics of the Saurian age, but those who 
wish to know what they were will probably find in 
Dr. Ellis's " Puritan Age "^ as lucid an explanation 
of them as it is possible to impart to modern laymen. 

"The differences in the said points of religion," says 
Winthrop, "increased more and more, and the ministers of 
both sides (there being only Mr. Cotton of one party) 
did publicly declare their judgments in some of them, so as 
all men's mouths were full of them. * * * Thus 
every occasion increased the contention, and caused great 
alienation of minds; and the members of Boston (frequent- 
ing the lectures of other ministers) did make much dis- 

* Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 211. 
/ Chap. 9. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 249 

turbance by public questions, and objections to their doc- 
trines, which did any way disagree from their opinions; 
and it began to be as common here to distinguish between 
men, by being under a covenant of grace or a covenant of 
works, as in other countries between Protestants and Pa- 
pists.'" 

So thoroughly had the people of Boston become 
inoculated with "errors" that in 1636, as has already 
been mentioned, it was deemed unsafe to hold the 
General Court there, and it was moved that the next 
one be held at Newtown. 

"The town and country," says Hutchinson,^ "were 
distracted with these subtleties, and every man and 
woman who had brains enough to form some imper- 
fect conception of them, inferred and maintained some 
other point." 

The contagion of "error" spread to the General 
Court itself and infected members so that "when any 
matter about these new opinions was mentioned the 
court was divided," though the "greater number 
far were sound. "^ 

In the strife about theological quibbles, the mad 
wrangle over metaphysical abstractions, the plain 
and simple teachings of Jesus seem to have been 
almost forgotten; the community was convulsed; 
men's faith was unsettled; and there was imminent 
danger of an explosion, liable to shatter into frag- 
ments both the Puritan creed and the Puritan o-qv- 
ernment. 

* Vol. I, 213-214. 
2Vol. i,p. 58. 

* Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 214. 



250 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

After Mrs. Hutchinson's banishment it was found 
that many in Boston were tainted with various secret 
opinions. Winthrop says; 

"Some of the secret opinions were these: 

"That there is no inherent righteousness in a child of 
God. 

"That neither absolute nor conditional promises belong 
to a Christian. 

"That we are not bound to the law, not as a rule, etc. 

"That the Sabbath is but as other days. 

"That the soul is mortal, till it be united to Christ, and 
then it is annihilated, and the body also, and a new given 
by Christ. 

"That there is no resurrection of the body."^ 

Notwithstanding the banishment of Mrs. Hutchin- 
son and Wheelwright and their followers, ''errors" 
continued to thrive, and in May, 1646, the General 
Court entered upon its records a long recital, setting 
forth the necessity of establishing the right form of 
church government and discipline "by ye joynt & 
publike agreement & consent of churches & by ye 
sanction of civill authority," which "must needs 
greatly conduce to ye honor & glory of our Lord 
Jesus Christ & to 3^e settleing & safety of church & 
Commonwealth," and stating that differences of opin- 
ion had arisen about infant baptism and other ques- 
tions, about which " all members of the churches 
(though godly & faithfull) are not yet clearly sat- 
isfied," and appointed "a publike assembly of the 
elders & other messengers of the severall churches 

»Vol. I, p. 253. 



'rise and fall of the theocracy. 251 

within this jurisdiction, who ma}" come together & 
meete at Cambridge upon the first day of September 
now next ensueing, there to discusse, dispute & cleare 
up, by the word of God, such questions of church 
government & discipHne in ye things afore mentioned, 
or any other as they shall thinke needfull & meete."* 
Later the synod was 2.1so requested "to set fourth a 
confession of ye faith we do professe touching ye 
doctrinall part of religion also."^ 

This synod promulgated in 1648 what is known as 
the Cambridge Platform, adopting the Westminster 
Confession, and declaring that it was the duty of the 
civil magistrates to suppress heresy. The result of 
their deliberations was embodied in a book "inti- 
tuled a Platforme of Church Discipline out of the 
Word of God &c," and in 1649 this, by order of the 
General Court, was "commended to the judicious & 
pious consideration of the severall churches within 
this jurisdiction," and having been approved, was 
adopted in 1651.^ This event is supposed by Mr. 
Fiske* to have completed the theocratic organization 
of the Puritan commonwealth. 

Still erroneous opinions and pestilent heresies con- 
tinued to spring up. Five synods were held between 
1637 ^^^ 1680,^ "for the preventing schisms, heresies, 
profaneness, and the establishment of churches in 
one faith and order of the Gospel"; but the last 
came no nearer accomplishing its purpose than did 

* Mass. Rec, Vol. 2, pp. 154-8. 
*Mass. Rec, Vol. 2, p. 200. 
'Mass. Rec, Vol. 2, p. 285. 

* Bcginnin<!;s of Ne-M Eng., p. 177. 

* Palfrey, Vol. 3, 330, note 2. 



25^ 



THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 



the first. All utterly failed to make men think 
alike in their religious belief. Not one heretical sect 
had been rooted out; and new ones were springing 
up on every hand, until it must have seemed to the 
Puritan clergy that Satan himself had conjured out 
of the lower depths, to perplex and terrify their souls, 
the innumerable hosts of heresies that swarmed about 
them. 

Again, commerce was expanding, both domestic 
and foreign. Commercial transactions could not be 
carried on in strict accord with Mr. Cotton's "rules 
for trading," and the commercial interests were con- 
tinually clashing with the harsh restrictions imposed 
by the Theocracy upon trade and commercial inter- 
course. 

Another potent factor, antagonistic to the Theoc- 
racy, was the growth of republican ideas. The seed 
had been planted and a republic grew even in the 
shade of the Theocracy. How it grew will be shown 
in subsequent chapters. 

Certain it is that a great majority of the people in 
Massachusetts were opposed to the rigorous measures 
against the Baptists and the Quakers. It is said that 
Winthrop, upon his death-bed,^ when pressed by 
Dudley to sign an order for the banishment of some 
heterodox person, refused, saying that "he had done 
too much of that work already." 

So that, even if the charter had not been revoked and 
if there had been no further royal interference, it is 
probable that the Theocracy could not have lasted 
many more years. 

1 Hutchinson, Vol. i, p. 142. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 253 

But the revocation of the charter, which ended the 
commonwealth, also gave a death blow to the Theoc- 
racy. Its power was broken and shattered never 
again to be restored, and the dream of a Biblical 
commonwealth vanished forever. 

It would be unjust to the ministers to assume that 
they were all fanatics; still more unjust to say that 
they were not sincere; it would be preposterous to 
suppose that they were such hideous monsters, such 
fiendish hypocrites, as they have been painted by 
Oliver and Brooks Adams. The latter in speaking 
of the connection of the ministers with the witchcraft 
delusion^ says: 

"Although, at a moment when the panic had got beyond 
control, even the most ultra of the clergy had been forced 
by their own danger to counsel moderation, the conserva- 
tives were by no means ready to abandon their potent allies 
from the lower world ; the power they gave was too alluring. 

* * * They therefore saw the constant acquittals, the 
abandonment of prosecutions and the growth of incredulity 
with regret. * * * Men with such beliefs and lured 
onward by such temptations, were incapable of letting the 
tremendous power superstition gave them slip from their 
grasp without an effort on their own behalf, and accordingly 
it was not long before the Mathers were once more at work. ' ' 

Here is a distinct and deliberate charge that the 
"priests" were malignant, hypocritical human fiends, 
willing, in order to strengthen their own power, to 
encourage belief in a wretched delusion which was 
making the land red with the blood of its victims and 
was sapping the very foundations of the community, 

' Emancipation of Massachusetts, pp. 230-32. 



254 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

And this charge is made without an}^ evidence to 
support it, other than the isolated expressions of a 
few, not sufficient to justify so shocking an accusa- 
tion even against them. 

It is scarcely necessary to add that the frightful 
specters which Mr. Adams sees are not real human 
beings; they are "the gloomy companions of a dis- 
eased imagination," conjured up by some frenzy 
which Junius characterizes as "the melancholy mad- 
ness of poetry without its inspiration." 

We ought never to fors^et that after the fall of the 
commonwealth, when Massachusetts lay prostrate 
and helpless under the feet of Andros, the five Puri- 
tan ministers of Boston, to quote the striking language 
of Mr. Foote,^ "were the steel point of the spear 
which Massachusetts held steadily before her breast." 
Foremost of them all was Increase Mather. Nor 
should we forget that, from that time until the Rev- 
olution, the New England clergy stood fast by the 
side of the people in their struggle for independence. 
The clergy was never subdued, and from New Eng- 
land pulpits there never failed to come inspiration 
to the people and defiance to their oppressors. 

Dr. Ellis says, and rightly, too, that, in formmg 
our conclusions concerning the religious and political 
persecutions by the Puritans of the commonwealth 
period, we should judge them by the ideas of the 
age in which they lived, and not by the ideas of re- 
ligious and political toleration which are the product 
of centuries of thought and experience. Mr. Charles 
Francis Adams meets this argument by the assertion 

^ Rise of D{sse7iting Faiths, Mem. Hist, of Boston, Vol. i, p. 205. 



RISE AND FAT.T. OF THE THEOCRACY. 255 

that it is illogical to apply it in favor of men who ad- 
vocated religions and political toleration for them- 
selves on the east side of the Atlantic, but denied it 
to others on the west side. The impression evi- 
dently sought to be conveyed by Mr. Adams is, that 
the Puritans themselves were hypocritical, or at least 
inconsistent. 

But the Puritans made no claim to beinof the 
champions of religious and political toleration, as we 
now understand these terms, on either side of the 
Atlantic. They did not affirm that the state or the 
church should tolerate political or religious heresies, 
on the ground that men had a right to entertain 
them and to advocate them, even though they were 
heresies. 

We of this age and country generally concede that 
a man may believe and advocate what doctrines he 
pleases, however erroneous we ma}^ deem them, be- 
cause, without this concession, we can not have free 
speech and a free press; just as we allow every man 
to vote as he pleases, because, otherwise, we can not 
have a free ballot. But in the age in which they 
lived neither the Puritans nor any other people were 
familiar with such exalted ideas of religious and 
political toleration. These are the product of ages, 
welded in the tires of persecution and tempered by 
the blood of countless martyrs. 

The Puritans did not pretend that the English gov- 
ernment ought to tolerate their opinions, regardless 
of what they might be. They full}' and sincerely 
believed, as it was then almost universally believed 
in England and in all the American colonies, that re- 



256 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

llgious and political heresies should be put down, and 
that, in putting them down, it was justifiable to in- 
flict the last penalty of the law. If they could have 
been convinced that their own opinions were errone- 
ous, they would have conceded fully the right of state 
and church to forbid the advocacy of them. What 
they maintained was, that it was wrong for the English 
government to punish their religious views, not be- 
cause it had no right to punish men for advocating 
heretical views but because their views were not 
heretical, and they asserted for themselves, on this 
side of the Atlantic, the right to punish the persons 
whom they did punish for their religious views, be- 
cause, as they believed, such views were heretical, 
and dangerous to their church and state. In other 
words, shortly stated, the Puritans conceded the right 
to suppress heresies, and in exercising it they arrogated 
no greater authority to themselves than they con- 
ceded to others. But they contended that the opin- 
ions which they themselves entertained, and for 
which they were punished in England, were not 
heresies, while the opinions of those who oppressed 
and opposed them were heresies. 

So while the Puritans, as we now look at the 
matter, were wrong in these persecutions, they were 
not inconsistent, and to their mistakes and faults, 
grievous as they were, we should not add the sin of 
hypocrisy. Whatever else they were, they were not 
hypocrites. They did not "devour widows' houses 
a7idfor a -pretejice make long prayers." They were 
intensely earnest in all their religious and political 
convictions. Among them, undoubtedly, were some 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 257 

who could stand by without flinching and see an- 
other burned at the stake for his opinions; but these 
same men would unhesitatingly have taken the 
victim's place in vindication of their own. The 
death of the Rev. Hugh Peter illustrates a type of 
Puritan heroism that was not rare. lie was one of the 
early colonists in Massachusetts and took an active 
part in the trial of Ann Hutchinson. After residing 
seven years in the colony, he returned to England 
and became one of the staunchest of Cromwell's 
supporters in the civil war. He was prominent in 
the army and stood armed on the scaffold at the exe- 
cution of Archbishop Laud. After the restoration of 
Charles H, he was tried, convicted and sentenced to 
be executed for treason. John Coke, who had re- 
ceived the same sentence, was executed first, and in 
the presence of Peter was butchered with all the 
diabolical art of the age. He was first hanged, 
then cut down alive, disembowled, his head cut off 
and his body quartered. The executioner, reeking 
with blood, after all this had been accomplished in 
full view of Peter, turned to him and asked him 
with savage glee: "Mr. Peter, how like you that 
work?" Undaunted, he replied: "You have butch- 
ered one of the servants of God before my eyes and 
have forced me to see it in order to terrify and dis- 
courage me; but God has permitted it for my sup- 
port and encouragement," and he submitted to 
his own doom with unflinching fortitude. Such was 
what might be called the heroism of the intolerance 
of that age, the only quality it had upon which we, 

Pur. Rep. — 17 



258 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

in this age, can base even a feeble apology for it. Of 
whatever there was heroic in it the Puritans pre- 
sented the highest types. 

If they were not in advance of the times, they 
were not behind them, in their views of religious 
and political toleration, and we shall fall into a griev- 
ous error if we suppose that all the religious intoler- 
ance and bigotry of that age were concentrated in 
Massachusetts during the period of the common- 
wealth. Divesting ourselves of either sympathy or 
prejudice, we need not be surprised to find that the 
idea of religious and political toleration had not 
made much headway among the early Puritans. It 
was an age of religious and political intolerance. 

The history of the 17th century and of the preced- 
ing centuries presents a frightful picture of religious 
persecutions. In the picture there are always a gal- 
lows, a hangman, and a victim. The figures at the 
gallows change every moment like those in a kaleido- 
scope. Catholics, Protestants, Puritans, Quakers, 
Baptists, religious martyrs of every creed, appear 
and disappear in endless succession. The hangman 
and the victim seem to be continually changing places. 
The gallows alone remains fixed. It never changes 
and the hanging never stops. 

In justice to the Puritans we should bear in mind 
that most of the other American colonies, no matter 
b}' whom settled or controlled, were equally intoler- 
ant. The Quakers were persecuted almost every- 
where except in Rhode Island and Pennsj^lvania. So 
late as 1660, a law of Maryland, styled Quaker 
preachers 'Vagabonds," and authorized them to be 



RISE AND FAIX OF THE THEOCRACY. 259 

apprehended and whipped. Baptists fared little 
better an3'where than did the Quakers. They were 
persecuted in all the colonies and enjo3'ed no freedom 
except in Rhode Island, Penns3'lvania and Delaware. 
NewYorkand most of the colonies had laws against the 
Catholics. In 1664 w^e find the Maryland assembly, 
in a law against blasphem}', including in a general 
sweep, "Schismatic, Idolater, Puritan, Lutheran, 
Calvinist, Anabaptist, Brownist, Antinomian, Bar- 
rowist. Roundhead, etc."^ 

If the Quakers were not hanged in Virginia, it was 
not because of the leniency of the law-makers, but 
was owing probably to the fact that none who were 
banished ventured to return. The Virginia act, 
passed in 1660, was as follows:^ 

'An Act for the suppressing the Quakers. 

' 'Whereas there is an unreasonable and turbulent sort of 
people, comonly called Quakers, who contrary to the 
law do dayly gather together unto them unlaw' 11 Assem- 
blies and congregations of people teaching and publishing, 
lies, miracles, false visions, prophecies and doctrines, which 
have influence upon the comunities of men both ecclesias- 
ticall and civil endeavouring and attemping thereby to de- 
stroy religion, lawcs, comunities and all bonds of civil 
societie, leaveing it arbitrarie to everie vaine and vitious per- 
son whether men shall be safe, lawes establislied, offenders 
punished, and Governours rule, hereby disturbing the pub- 
lique peace and just interest, to prevent and restraine which 
mischiefe, It is enacted, That no master or comander of 
any shipp or other vessel! do bring into this collonie any 

^ Dillon's Oddities of Colonial Legislation, 2\-%\\ Hildreth's History 
United States, Vol. i, pp. 514, 519; Dr. Hurst on Religious Develop- 
ment, in First Century of the Republic, 473. 

* Hening's Statutes at Large, Vol. i, pp. 532-3. 



26o THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

person or persons called Quakers, under the penalty of one 
hundred pounds sterling to be leavied upon him and his 
estate by order from the Governour and Council or the com- 
issioners in the severall counties where such shipps shall 
r.rrive, That all such Quakers as have beene questioned or 
.shall hereafter arrive shall be apprehended wheresoever they 
r/.iall be found and they be imprisoned without baile or main- 
prize till they do abjure this country or putt in security with 
r.ll speed to depart the collonie and not to returne again : 
And if any should dare to presume to returne hither after 
such departure to be proceeded against as contemners of 
the lawes and magistracy and punished accordingly, and 
caused again to depart the country. And if they should the 
third time be so audacious and impudent as to returne 
hither to be proceeded against as ffelons. That noe person 
shall entertain any of the Quakers that have heretofore been, 
questioned by the Governour and Council, or which shall 
hereafter be questioned, nor permit in or near his house any 
Assemblies of Quakers in the like penalty of one hundred 
pound sterling, That comissioners and officers are hereby 
required and authorized as they will answer the contrary at 
their perill to take notice of this act to see it fully effected 
and executed, And that no person do presume on their 
peril to dispose or publish their bookes, pamphlets or li- 
bells bearing the title of their tenents and opinions." 

Other laws were enacted in Virginia making it a 
finable offense to attend Quaker meetings, to bring 
Quakers to the colony or to entertain them after their 
arrival. In 1663 Mr. John Porter, one of the bur- 
gesses in the Virginia House of Representatives, was 
expelled for divers offenses, the chief of which was 
that he was "loving to the Quakers and stood well 
affected towards them."^ 

^ Hening's Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, p. 198. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 261 

There was also a barbarous provision in tlie Vir- 
ginia laws, to the effect that if any Quaker was un- 
able to pay a fine assessed against him for violation 
of these laws, "then it shalbe lawful! to levy and 
recover the same from the rest of the ^takers or 
other seperatists, or any one of them then present, 
that are of greater ability to pay the said fine or 
fines. "1- 

The Virginia law against Anabaptists made it 
a finable offense for any one to refuse to have his 
children baptized. 

Nor would the Puritans have fared an}^ better in 
Virginia than the Episcopalians fared in Massachu- 
setts. Conformity to the Church of England was 
enjoined by law, and absence from church services 
was a finable offense. Another law expressly re- 
quired "that the Gov. and Counsel do take care 
that all nonconformists upon notice of them shall 
be compelled to depart the collony with all con- 
veniencie."^ Daniel Gookin was driven from Vir- 
ginia for nonconformit}^ and went to Boston. In 
1648 two Puritan ministers, who went from Massa- 
chusetts to Virginia, were banished from the latter 
state by Governor Berkley because they would not con- 
form to the Church of England.^ Others were fined 
and imprisoned and nearly all were driven out of the 
colony and compelled to seek refuge in Maryland 
and New England.* Indeed, so late as 1745, the 
Virginia judges were charging grand juries to find 

^ Hening's Statutes at Large, Vol. 2, p. i8i. 
2 Hening's Statutes at Large, Vol. i, p. 277. 
' Winthrop, Vol. 2, p. 334. 
*Cooke's History Virginia, 173. 



263 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

bills of indictment against Methodists, Moravians and 
New Light Presbyterians.^ 

Even those who had themselves been banished 
from Massachusetts and who, at the time, complained 
most bitterly of the "intolerance" from which they 
had suffered, do not seem to have been any more 
tolerant to those who at a later period differed from 
them. This is shown by the experience of Samuel 
Gorton, the Familist. After leaving Massachusetts 
he went to Plymouth, and, having been forced to 
leave there, he went to Rhode Island, where, by or- 
der of Coddington, the governor, who had himself 
left Massachusetts on account of the alleged intoler- 
ance of the authorities, he was first imprisoned and 
then whipped. He then sought shelter at Provi- 
dence, which was granted by Roger Williams, but 
he had not been there long until divers of the inhab- 
itants sent a petition to the Massachusetts authorities 
"to lend them a neighbor-like helping hand to ease 
them of their burden," for the reason that "the said 
Gorton nor his company are not fit persons to be re- 
ceived in and made members of such a body in so 
weak a state as our town is in at present."^ 

When we listen to the bitter, and oftentimes flip- 
pant, denunciations of Puritan intolerance we are apt 
to forget that the progress of religious and political 
toleration is very slow, with a constant tendency to a 
relapse into intolerance of the rights of the minority, 
when the power passes into the hands of a large 
majority and the persons composing it are all of one 

^ Dillon's Oddities of Colotiial Legislatioyt, 267-269. 
'Palfrey, Vol. 2, pp. 117-119; Hutchinson, Vol. i, pp. 112-113. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 263 

way of thinking. The progress of religious and 
poHtical toleration is due, not so much to advanced 
and liberal ideas of the right of others to differ from 
us in religious and political belief, as it is to the grow- 
ing conviction that we must concede this right to 
others in order to secure it for ourselves. It was not 
Thomas Jefferson and the infidels who prevented the 
recognition of religion in the constitution of the 
United States. There were people then, as now, 
who clamored to have "God in the constitution." 
But every denomination that had suffered from 
religious persecution was opposed to taking any 
steps which might be the initiative to the renewal of 
such persecutions, and they feared that such a pro- 
vision in the constitution would lead to the establish- 
ment by the government of the creed of some other 
denomination. In Virginia the most vigorous pro- 
tests against levying a general assessment for the 
support of religion were from the Presbyterians, the 
Baptists, and the Quakers.^ 

It is indeed ver}- easy to persuade ourselves that 
another man's "ism" is fanaticism, and it is very 
hard for us to distinguish between rightful repression 
of error and the persecution of those who differ from 
us in what we consider vital principles. 

Religious and political intolerance in this country 
did not disappear with the decline of Puritanism. 
More than two hundred years after the persecution 
of the Quakers in ISIassachusetts there was a meeting: 
in Boston of some respectable and pious women, en- 
gaged in what they conscientiously believed to be a 

^* Dr. Hurst in First Century of the Republic, i\'j(). 



264 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

philanthropic work. They had read a portion of the 
Bible and had offered up a prayer to God, when 
their place of meeting was surrounded by a howl- 
ing, furious mob which dispersed the assembly. 
A man in sympathy with the object of the meet- 
ing was present. In those days he was called a 
fanatic. With wonderful persistence and devotion 
to principle he had established a newspaper in Boston, 
of which he was the chief editor, printer, and car- 
rier. The principles he advocated did not please the 
mob and it thirsted for his blood. Having discovered 
him, the mob seized him, tore his clothes from him, 
and dragged him through the streets with a rope 
around his neck. Finally he was rescued by the 
ma3"or and some citizens and was put into the Lever- 
ett street jail to save him from being murdered. 
iJpon the walls he wrote an inscription telling that 
he "was put into this cell on Monday afternoon Oc- 
tober 21, 1835, ^^ save him from the violence of a 
respectable and influential mob who sought to destroy 
him for preaching the abominable and dangerous 
doctrine that all men are created equal, and that all 
oppression is odious in the sight of God." 

What was the object of this mob? It was to sup- 
press the freedom of speech and of the press, that 
human slavery might be perpetuated. Was the 
action of the mob approved? Most certainl}^, and 
by a very large number of people of the United 
States, who, in different parts of the Union, en- 
gaged in similar and even more atrocious outrages. 
This was long after the "emancipation" of Massa- 
chusetts is supposed to have been accomplished. It 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 265 

is hardly necessary to add that the members of the 
mob, their aiders, abettors and sympathizers, in Mas- 
sachusetts and elsewhere in the United States, were 
not Puritans. The name of the man who was the 
object of the mob's vengeance does not * 'stand in a 
shadow." Clarum et venerahile no men} 

Even the Quakers have not always been as toler- 
ant as might be supposed from their denunciation of 
the intolerance of the Puritans. It seems that one 
of the first laws they passed in Rhode Island, after 
they had obtained a charter in 1663, was a law ex- 
cludino^ Roman Catholics from the right to vote and 
to hold office.^ 

A still more significant and humiliating record of 
their attitude towards the Abolitionists is furnished 
by the records in Indiana. In that state in 1842, 
when the virus of slavery had well-nigh poisoned the 
whole nation, Abolitionism became unpopular, even 
among the Quakers. 

"Strange as it may seem," says Mr. Coffin,' "to the 
rising generation who read the part of Friend's Discipline 
relating to slavery and who would naturally suppose that 
they would give their support to every movement opposing 
slavery, there was a spirit of opposition to Abolitionism at- 
tributable to various causes, which had almost impercepti- 
bly crept in among Friends, and which manifested itself in 
the yearly meetings." "We were advised," he says, "not 
to unite in abolition societies nor to open our meeting-houses 
for abolition meetings. This took place at the yearly meet- 
ing in the fall of 1842. These advices were sent down to 

' Wilson's Rise and Fall of the Slave Po-cvcr, Vol. i, p. 2S4. 

^ Hildreth's His. United States, Vol. i, p. 461; Palfrey, Vol, 4, p. 472, 

^ Reminiscences of Levi Coffin, pp. 230-232. 



266 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

quarterly and monthly meetings with a committee to see 
that they were carried out. Thus we had no alternative ; 
we must separate or be disowned for opposing the advice of 
the body, as they called it." They were not hanged, it is 
true, nor banished from this land, but they were banished 
from the society. "We were proscribed," continues Mr. 
Coffin, "for simply adhering to what we believed to be our 
Christian duty, as consistent members of the Society of 
Friends in regard to the anti-slavery movement in uniting 
with others in anti-slavery societies, opening our meeting- 
houses for anti-slavery meetings to plead the cause of the 
oppressed, and laboring for the spread of anti-slavery truth 
in every way we could, consistent with our profession as 
Christians, we asked only liberty of conscience — freedom to 
act according to these conscientious convictions." 

This testimony of Mr. Coffin is fully corroborated 
by Mr. George W.Julian, in a paper entitled, "The 
Rank of Charles Osborn as an Anti-Slaver}'^ Pioneer."^ 
Osborn and several others were proscribed and 
driven out and spoken of as "gone, fallen, and out 
of the life," for persisting in the advocacy of aboli- 
tion sentiments, 

"It will probably be news to thousands," says Mr. Julian, 
"that the Quakers thus succumbed to the power of slavery; 
but such is the melancholy fact, and they have no right to 
escape history. Among the rank and file of the body in 
Indiana there were doubtless very many true anti-slavery 
men ; but at the time of which I speak the chief rulers be- 
lieved in colonization and gradual emancipation. They took 
special pains, in dealing with legislative bodies, slaveholders 
and the public, to inform them that they had no connection, 

^ Ind. His. Soc. Pub., Vol. z, pp. 264-265. 



RISE AND FALL OF THE THEOCRACY. 267 

in an}- wa}', with abolitionism. They so assured Henry- 
Clay while in Richmond. Leading members frequently re- 
iterated the charge that abolitionists had 'put back the cause 
of emancipation' ; and some of them insisted that aiding 
slaves on their way to Canada involved men in the crime of 
man-stealing. Many of the rulers of the denomination in 
the eastern as well as the western states had 'their ears 
filled with cotton.' They discoursed very piously about the 
attempt of abolitionists ' to abolish slavery in their own 
strength,' and argued that paying men for anti-slavery lect- 
ures was opposed to the Quaker testimony against a 'hire- 
ling ministry.' Ministers, elders and overseers took the 
lead in these reactionary proceedings ; and it was one of 
the curiosities of human nature to find the followers of John 
Woolman and Anthony Benezett laboring with their breth- 
ren for attending anti-slavery meetings, closing the doors of 
their churches against anti-slavery lectures, and setting up 
a system of espionage over the publication of anti-slavery 
articles by members of the society. Such men as Isaac T. 
Hopper, among the Hicksite Friends, and Arnold Buffum, 
among the Orthodox, were disowned for their fidelity to the 
slave. This work of proscription was generally based upon 
some false pretense, as was the fact in the case of Mr. 
Buffum. In dealing with Mr. Osborn and his associates, 
the Indiana yearly meeting did its best to cover up the ugly 
fact that they were degraded on account of their anti-slavery 
principles. With great dexterity in the use of scripture, 
much circumlocution, and a cunning and tergiversation that 
would have won the heart of Talleyrand or Loyola, they 
played their game of ecclesiastical t>'^ranny ; but the facts 
of the transaction, as now seen in the clear perspective of 
history, leave them perfectly unmasked. I have carefully 
examined the documents and papers pertaining to the con- 
troversy on both sides, and speak from the record. Strange 
as it may seem, the claims of justice were jso completely 



268 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC, 

subordinated to the peace and unity of the society that 
even a deputation of English Friends, who came over 
as mediators in this trouble, utterly refused to look into the 
merits of the controversy, and insisted upon the uncon- 
ditional return of the seceding members to the body which 
had so flagrantly trampled upon their rights. Humanity 
was forgotten in the service of a sect, and Quakerism itself 
disowned by its priesthood," 

All this testimony goes to prove that the Quakers, 
with the awful example of Puritan intolerance, and 
the added advantage of the ideas and teachings of two 
hundred years of civilization, so late as 1842, had 
made no such marked advance over the Puritans in 
the direction of religious and political toleration as 
we might be led to expect from their opportunities 
and professions and from the vigor with which they 
abuse their former persecutors. 



XII 



PLANTING THE SEED OF A REPUBLIC; DEVEL- 
OPMENT OF THE TOWN SYSTEM AND LOCAL 
SELF-GOVERNMENT 

The distinguishing feature in the government of 
the Massachusetts colony was the town S3'stem. 

The idea of local self-government has become a 
fixed and marked feature of American government. 
A few years ago we saw 15,000 persons moving into 
Oklahoma Territory one night, an election held at 4 
p. M. on the next day and all the machiner}- of local 
government put in motion. That could not have 
been accomplished an3-where in the world except in 
the United States, and its accomplishment is one of 
the results of the American principle of local self- 
government, which, if it did not originate in New 
England, was developed sooner and more fully there 
than anywhere else. 

Local governments of one kind or another had 
existed for centuries in England and in the rude Ger- 
manic tribes.^ Speaking of local self-government in 
America, Judge Cooley says that "the S3-stem is one 
which almost seems a part of the very nature of the 
race to which we belong," and that "in America the 

^ Howard's Local Constitutional History of United States; Pomeroy's 
Constitutional Lavj, 2d ed., sees. 158-164. 

(269) 



270 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

first settlers, as if instinctively, adopted it in their 
forms of government."^ 

Whatever may have been the origin of local self- 
government, the form of it which is presented in the 
New England town governments undoubtedly ori- 
ginated there. Nor does the New England town 
system seem to have been patterned after any known 
model. Nothing like it existed in England or else- 
where in America. 

Some have supposed that the New England towns 
were patterned after the free cities of the twelfth cen- 
tury or the ancient Anglo-Saxon towns. Others have 
referred the origin of the New England town system 
to the signing of the compact in the cabin of the May- 
flower. That was indeed one of the most striking 
events in history. He must be dead to every noble 
and generous impulse who can stand in Pl3aTiouth's 
Pilgrim Hall, surrounded by all the precious relics 
of our forefathers, and look upon the painting repre- 
senting the signing of the compact without catching 
some of the inspiration of the painter. We see a little 
company of exiles three thousand miles from home, 
crowded in a small and leaky vessel, worn and weary 
with a voyage over stormy seas, leaving kindred and 
abandoning forever their birth-places and seeking a 
home in a far-off wilderness. We see men with 
brave and resolute hearts, preparing to bind them- 
selves by solemn covenant to set up a government 
for the making of "just and equal laws." It is in- 
deed a spectacle which men will never tire of praising. 
It touches a chord in human nature that will vibrate 

1 Constitutional Li7n., 5th ed., 227; see also Dillon's Municipal Cor- 
porations, Vol, I, 3d ed,, sec, 9, 



PLANTING THE SEED OF A REPUBLIC. 27 1 

to the end of time. But after all this has been said, 
we must say that the signing of the compact was not 
the origin of local self-government in America. It 
did not furnish a model of it, and it is certain that it 
had not the slightest influence in molding the town 
governments of New England. 

It would seem, at first blush, as if the New Eupt- 
land town governments arose spontaneously, but 
we know that there is nothing spontaneous in the 
formation of government an}' more than there is in 
nature. "Men did not wake on a summer morning," 
to quote from Mr. Mill,^ "and find them growing." 
This much may be said, that they wqvq sui generis. 
"They were not," says Prof. Joel Parker, "founded 
or modeled on precedent." ^ Prof. Parker says further: 

"They were not contrived in the closet, nor in the hall of 
the legislative assembly, and brought into existence with the 
powers and duties which we find attached to them, by the 
enactment of a law for that purpose. They did not burst 
into mature life by any previous contrivance, but, like most 
other useful machinery, they had their origin in the wants 
of the time, and came into existence by a gradual process 
from imperfect beginnings." 

Man}^ of the laws of England would have been 
wholly unsuited to the early New England settle- 

* Representative Goi^ernmcnt. 

^ Paper on The Oriffiti, Orga7iization and Tvfuence of the Towns of 
Neiv England, read December, 1865; Proc. Mass. His. Soc, 1S66-7, p. 
20; see further as to New England towns, Howard's Local Constitutional 
History of United States, Chap, on Rise of the New England 
Town, pp. 50-99; Abner G. Goodell, Jr., Paper on Origin of Towns 
in Massachusetts, read February, 1890; Proc. Mass. His. Soc, Vol. 5, 
2d Ser., p. 320. 



272 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

ments. The exigencies of the situation made it nec- 
essaiy to adopt many new laws and regulations. 
Moreover, each settlement was, to a great extent, 
isolated from the rest. For a long time the means of 
communication were difficult and often dangerous. 
Each settlement, therefore, in the nature of things, 
was left to devise a form of local government adapted 
to its own wants. In the formation of such a gov- 
ernment the settlers doubtless had in mind the prin- 
ciples and forms of local government with which 
they had been . familiar in England. Undoubtedly 
they had in mind the most advanced English ideas of 
political liberty, and especially the fundamental prin- 
ciples of the English constitution. And it is quite 
certain that they copied largely, in the formation of 
their scheme of town government, from the form o^ 
the church government of that branch of dissenters 
from the established church of England which after- 
ward developed into the Congregational church in 
this country. Indeed the common name of "mod- 
erator" was applied alike to the presiding officers of 
both town and church meetings. 

The causes above mentioned were the principal if 
not the only factors producing the system of New 
England town government. 

However the system of local self-government may 
have originated, it became a fixed feature of govern- 
ment long before the adoption of any of our consti- 
tutions, national or state, and it is recognized im- 
pliedly, if not expressly, in all of them. The system 
was developed fully in the Massachusetts common- 
wealth. As soon as towns began to grow up the 



PLANTING THE SEED OF A REPUBLIC, 273 

necessity of some form of local government became 
apparent. The first is said to have been in Dor- 
chester M^here the inhabitants met on October 8, 
1633, and adopted the following: 

"An agreement made by the whole Consent and vote of 
the Plantation, made Moone day 8th October 1633. Im- 
primis. It is ordered that for the Generall good and well 
ordering of the affayres of the plantation, there shall be 
every Mooneday before the Court by eight of the clocke in 
the morning and presently, upon the beating of tJie drum a 
generall meeting of the inhabitants of the plantation at the 
Meetmg House, there to settle and sett downe such orders 
as may tend to the generall good as aforesayd, and every 
man to be bound thereby without gainsaying or resistance.'" 

Tv^^elve selectmen were appointed to hold monthly- 
meetings, with authority to inake orders subject to the 
approval of the plantation. 

The Dorchester plan is said to have served as a 
pattern for other towns, although Prof. Parker ex- 
presses the opinion that the plan of managing the 
affairs of the towns by selectmen, which after- 
wards became general, originated in Charlestown, 
where 

"In 1635 'in consideration of the great trouble and charge 
of the inhabitants by reason of the frequent meeting of the 
townsmen in general, and that, by reeson of many men 
meeting, things were not so easily brought unto a joint 
issue,' they made a compact by which it was agreed by the 
townsmen jointly 'that eleven men, with the advice of 

* Samuel J. Barrows, Dorchester in the Colonial Period, 1 Mem. Hist, 
of Boston, 427. 

Pur. Rep.— iS 



274 '^^^ PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

pastor and teacher, desired in any case of conscience, shall 
entreat of all such business as shall concern the townsmen, 
the choice of officers excepted ; and what they or the 
greater part of them shall conclude, the rest of the town 
willingly submit to as their own proper act.' The eleven 
persons thus chosen were 'to continue in this employment 
for one year.' " 

In 1634 towns were authorized to select represent- 
atives, afterward called deputies, to represent them, 
in General Court,^ but they were not fully recognized 
and authorized to act as separate local municipalities 
until March 3, 1635-6, when the General Court made 
the following order: 

"Whereas particular townes have many things which con- 
cerne only themselves & the ordering of their owne affaires, 
and disposeing of business in their owne towne, it is there- 
fore ordered that the ffreemen of every towne, or the major 
parte of them shall onely have power to dispose of their 
owne lands & woods with all the prevelidgcs & appurte- 
nances of the said townes, to graunt lotts & make such orders 
as may concerne the wellordering of their owne townes, not 
repugnant to the lawes & orders here established by the 
Generall Court, as also to lay mulks & penaltyes for the 
breach of theis orders & to levy & distreine the same, not 
exceeding the sum of 20s ; also to chuse their owne par- 
ticular officers, as constables, surveyors for the high wayes 
& the like." 

This order made further provisions for accounting 
by the constables to the General Court when called 
upon by it to do so.^ Afterward this provision was 
incorporated in the Body of Liberties.^ 

^Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. ii8. 

2 Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 172, Col. Laws, 1660-1672, p. 195. 

*Col. Laws 1660-1672, p. 47. 



PLANTING THE SEED OF A REPUBLIC. 275 

The chief officers of the town were the selectmen, 
Avho were elected jearl}^ and whose number was not 
to exceed nine. These were invested with extensive 
powers in reference to ordering "the planting & pru- 
dential affaires of their Townes, according to instruc- 
tions given them in writing." 

Besides the selectmen, there was also a town clerk, 
whose office imposed important duties. There were 
also commissioners of rates, whose duties corre- 
sponded to those of assessors, highway surveyors, 
fence viewers, and later commissioners for the trial 
of small causes. 

Chiefly upon the marshals or constables rested the 
dut}' of preserving order and observance of the laws. 
From May ist to the last of September there were 
night watchmen, under the supervision of the con- 
stables, whose duty it was to "duely examine all 
Night- Walkers after ten of the clock at Night (un- 
les they be known peacable Inhabitants) to enquire 
whither they are going, and what their busines is," 
and, in case they could not give a satisfactory explana- 
tion, then they were to be taken in custody until morn- 
ing and then taken before the magistrate and com- 
pelled "to give satisfaction for their being abroad at 
that time of night." The watchmen were likewise to 
arrest all persons "behaving themselves any wayes 
debauchedly, or shall be in drink"; and to see "all 
Noises in the street stilled, and lights put out." The 
putting out of lights, however, was, partly at least, 
for the prevention of fires. ^ 

The official business of the town was transacted in 

* Col. Laws, 1660-1672, pp. 19S-9. 



276 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

town meetings. At these, as before stated, none but 
freemen were allowed to vote. The meetings were 
generally held in the meeting-house used for relig- 
ious services, and they were opened with prayer. A 
moderator presided and had the casting vote. If he 
refused to put a question to vote the meeting might 
appoint "any other meete man of them to do it. And 
if there be just cause, to punish him that should and 
would not." The voting was by a show of hands or 
by dividing the house. 

"Every man whether Inhabitant or fforreiner, free 
or not free," had liberty to come and "either by 
speech or writeing to move any lawfull, seasonable, 
and materiall question, or to present any necessary 
motion, complaint, petition, Bill or information, 
whereof that meeting hath proper Cognizance, so 
it be done in Convenient time, due order, and 
respective manner."^ Any man behaving himself 
offensively at such meetings could be fined by those 
present "so be it the mulct or penaltie exceede not 
twentie shillings." 

The cardinal idea of the New England town sys- 
tem was that the nearer government is brought to 
the people, the more clearly it shows their senti- 
ments and reflects their will, and that this is the de-, 
sideratum in local affairs. This was the New Eng- 
land idea of both civil and church government. 
Whatever was discussed in the town meetings was 
discussed thoroughl}^, and whatever action was taken 
by them was the result of intelligent and deliberate 
conviction. Therefore the vote of the people of New 

^Liberty No. 12, Col. Laws 1660-1672, p. 35. 



PLANTING TME SEED OF A REPUBLIC. 277 

Eno^land in their town meeting^s was a far more re- 
liable index to their sentiments than the vote of their 
representatives in either state or national legislature. 

In these little democracies the cardinal principles 
of poHtical equality, opposition to tyranny, and free- 
dom of speech were taught, and taught in such a 
way that they were never forgotten. 

The town system has continued in New England 
without substantial change to this day in all portions 
except large cities. Even Boston continued to be 
under the old system of government until 1822. The 
town meetings were not only schools for political de- 
bate and instruction, but they were nurseries for the 
propagation of republican principles. Nor does the 
town system diminish in importance by lapse of time 
and change of circumstances. It is to-day the strong- 
est bulwark against centralization and usurpation of 
power by either national or state legislative depart- 
ments. Mr. Bryce^ says that "where it [the popula- 
tion] is of native American stock and the number of 
voting citizens is not too great for thorough and calm 
discussion, no better school of politics can be imagined, 
nor any method of managing local affairs more 
certain to prevent jobbery and waste, to stimulate 
vigilance and breed contentment." 

It was chiefly through these town organizations 
that New England in the colonial period was enabled 
to maintain a school system so greatl}' superior to 
that of any other portion of the countr3\ 

As a political factor, the influence of the town or- 
ganization was immense. *'The town," says IVIr. 

^ Amert'can CommOHZvea/f/i, Vol. i, p. 566. 



278 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

Howard,^ ''was the political atom in a most vital 
sense." 

The advantage which the town organization gave 
New England in the Revolutionary period is clearly 
shown by Professor Parker in the paper already re- 
ferred to: 

"It was through these agencies and this organization that 
the measures of the Mother Country were discussed, when 
the controversy arose between her and the colonies. And 
if the merits of this controversy were better understood by 
the great mass of the people in New England than in any 
other portion of the country of similar extent, which I 
doubt not was the case, it was owing, in no small degree, 
to these town incorporations : first, in furnishing the educa- 
tion; and, second, in the facilities they afforded for gather- 
ings of the people and the discussion of the subject. 

"There was no extraordinary effort necessary to secure a 
meeting, whenever one was desired. The machinery for pro- 
ducing it was all ready. It only required to be put in opera- 
tion. No stumps were needed on which to utter patriotic 
harangues. The meeting-houses were well adapted to that 
purpose. It was thus that great masses of the people were 
influenced to an active and ardent patriotism. 

"At the same time the most perfect facilities were fur- 
nished for a full knowledge, not only of those who were 
friendly to the crown, but of the various degrees of their 
hostility to the popular cause, from that of lukewarmness to 
that of rabid Toryism. 

"It was through these organizations that the way was 
prepared for resistance, not only in sentiment, but in ma- 
terial. Depots of military stores were provided, to a 
^ Local Constitutional History United States, p. 60. 



PLANTING THE SEED OF A REPUBLIC. 279 

limited extent only; but, so far as such provision was made, 
it was mostly by the towns. 

"Great Britain rightly judged that a portion of the country 
so organized was the most dangerous ; and all the events of 
the time led to the striking of the first blow here. 

"It was through these organizations that an industrious 
yeomanr)' while following the plow, and the diligent tenants 
of workshops while handling their tools, were converted 
into an armed soldiery, on the first news that the British 
had left the limits of Boston and were marching into the 
country. The dragons' teeth which produced that harvest 
were sown in the shape of farmers and mechanics, who, 
holding themselves in readiness, as 'minute men', required 
but the heat of warlike intelligence to burst into full life and 
vigor as a patriotic army. 

"But for these towns, New England could not have been 
prompt to meet the crisis, and to assert the rights of the 
colonies by an armed resistance which made itself felt and 
respected from the very moment of the onset. By driving 
back the enemy discomfited, notwithstanding his partial 
successes, she gave confidence in the result of the war, if 
war must come. 

"It was through their organization that law was enforced 
and order sustained, during the period when war had sub- 
verted the administration of justice, which had previously 
existed, and peace had not arrived to substitute another. 
The towns organized under their own provisional govern- 
ment, as in the days of the earliest settlement, adopted 
regulations, and instituted an authority which reduced the 
refractory to obedience, and prevented the state of anarchy 
which must otherwise have existed to a greater or less de- 
gree. 

"It was through these towns that the great mass of the 
people of New England were not only prepared to throw 



2 So THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

off an allegiance which had become oppressive, but that 
they had anticipated the action of Congress upon that sub- 
ject. The several averments or accusations in that bill of 
indictment, the Declaration of Independence, had been pre- 
viously asserted and sustained by resolutions, over and over 
again, in the town meetings of New England." 

Jefferson was not a lover of New England, but in 
a letter written in 1816 to Joseph C. Cabell,^ he pays 
this high tribute to New England towns and to their 
power to mold and solidify public sentiment: 

"Where every man is a sharer in the direction of his 
ward republic, or of some of the higher ones, and feels that 
he is a participator in the government of affairs, not merely 
at an election one day in the year, but every day ; when 
there shall not be a man in the state who will not be a 
member of some one of its councils, great or small, he will 
let the heart be torn out of his body sooner than his power 
be wrested from him by a Caesar or a Bonaparte. How 
powerfully did we feel the energy of this organization in the 
case of embargo? I felt the foundations of the government 
shaken under my feet by the New England townships. 
There was not an individual in their states whose body was 
not thrown with all its momentum into action; and although 
the whole of the other states were known to be in favor of 
the measure, yet the organization of this little selfish minor- 
ity enabled it to overrule the Union. What would the un- 
wieldly counties of the middle, the south and the west do? 
Call a county meeting, and the drunken loungers at and 
about the court-houses would have collected, the distances 
being too great for the good people and the industrious gen- 
erally to attend. The character of those who really met 
would have been the measure of the weight they would have 
^Jefferson's Works, Vol. 6, p, 54^}., 



PLANTING THE SEED OF A REPUBLIC. 28 1 

had in the scale of public opinion. As Cato, then, con- 
cluded every speech with the words, ' Carthago delenda est,' 
so do I every opinion, with the injunction, 'divide the 
counties into wards.' Begin them only for a single purpose; 
they will soon show for what others they are the best instru- 
ments." 

The early town records show a great variety of 
orders and regulations. These related chiefly to 
grants of land, the location and building of meeting- 
houses, roads, bridges and pounds, the appointment 
of fence viewers, animals running at large, bounties 
for wolves, provisions for churches and schools, and 
such other matters as we should naturally expect to 
find the subject of town action in any new country 
under like conditions. 

At a later period counties w^ere organized and offi- 
cers were elected suitable to such organizations, but 
the town organizations continued to be, and still are, 
the most important of the local organizations. 



XIII . 

HOW THE REPUBLIC GREW— ESCAPE FROM 
DEMOCRACY 

It is not probable that the colonists on their arrival 
here had any very distinct ideas about the kind of 
government which should be established. The pro- 
jected enterprise was an experiment. It might end 
in failure to establish any kind of government. 

It is clear that, at least in the beginning, the clergy 
did not look with favor upon anything bearing the 
semblance of a democracy. "Democracy," said 
John Cotton, "I do not conceyve that ever God did 
ordeyne as a fitt government eyther for church or 
commonwealth. If the people be governors who shall 
be governed? As for monarchy and aristocracy they 
are both of them clearely approoved and directed in 
scripture, yet so as referreth the soveraigntie to him- 
selfe, and setteth up Theocracy in both, as the best 
forme of government in the commonwealth, as well 
as in the church."^ 

Cotton also thought that "a Magistrate ought not 
to be turned into the condition of a private man with- 
out just cause and to be publicly convict," and some 
years later (1639) ^^^ ^^ ^^^ elders "declared his 

^ Letter to Lord Say and 6'fa/ (1636), i Hutchinson History Mass., 
437 App. 

(282) 



HOW THE REPUBLIC GREW. 283 

judgment that a governour ought to be for his Hfe^ 
alleging for his authority, the practice of all the best 
commonwealths in Europe, and especially that of 
Israel by God's own ordinance."^ 

The Rev. Samuel Stone, who came from England 
in the same ship that brought Cotton and Hooker, 
when asked to describe the Cono^regational church- 
government, said that: "It was a speaking Aristocracy 
in the face of a silent Democrac}^"^ This exactly 
describes the attitude, long maintamed in the Massa- 
chusetts commonwealth, by the clergy to the people. 

Nor is it probable that the freemen themselves, in 
the beginning, contemplated a republic. When they 
fled from England they fled not so much from mon- 
archy as from the monarch. Still they recognized 
that monarch as their sovereig^n and clungf with 
great pertinacity to the charter which he had given 
them. But they brought with them inherited ideas 
of the rights of subjects and of constitutional guar- 
antees against arbitrary power, then more fully de- 
veloped in England than anywhere else on the globe. 

So that, almost from the beginning of the com- 
monwealth, there was a struggle on the part of the 
freemen against the exercise of arbitrary power by 
the rulers, and, for several-years, the struggle was 
open and at times bitter. 

The Rev. Nathaniel Ward advised in 1639 against 
the submission of the laws, then being prepared, to 
the "common consideration of the freemen," for, he 
says, "I see the spirits of the people runne high and 

* Winthrop, Vol. i, pp. 132, 301. 
^ Magnalia, Vol. i, p. 437. 



284 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

ivhat they get they hotdd.''''^ Winthrop, in the same 
year, observed "how strictly the people would seem 
to stick to their patent, where they think it makes 
for their advantage, but are content to decline it, 
where it will not warrant such liberties as they have 
taken up without warrant from thence."^ In a let- 
ter to Hooker, he thought that he and his associates 
who formed the government of Connecticut had com- 
mitted a grievous error in submitting its constitution 
to the body of the people, because, he said, "the 
best part is always the least, and of that best part the 
wiser part is always the lesser. The old law was, 
choose ye out judges, etc., and thou shalt bring the 
matter to the judge." ^ 

As soon as the company was established in 
America, the assistants assumed the name and func- 
tions of "magistrates," and also the law-making 
power, and at a General Court held in Boston in Oc- 
tober, 1630, they obtained a vote authorizing them 
to select the governor and the deputy governor from 
their own number. At the same General Court it 
was ordered that the assistants, "when there are to 
be chosen," should be chosen by the company at 
large, the implication from this being that, when 
elected, they were to hold for life or during good be- 
havior. These assumptions of power were not 
kindly received, even by the freemen, and we may 
be sure that the non-voting population looked upon 
such assumptions with jealous eyes and ill-concealed 

1 Mass. Hist. Coll., 4th Ser., Vol. 8, pp. 26-27. 

*Vol. I, p. 303. 

' Winthrop, Vol. 2, p. 350. 



HOW THE REPUBLIC GREW. 285 

dislike. The freemen themselves soon began to 
make complaint and to assert their rights. 

In 1 63 1 the General Court ordered the lev}- of a 
tax for the purpose of fortifying Newtown, and £8 
was laid on Watertown, as its share of the burden, 
but " the pastor and elder, etc., assembled the peo- 
ple and delivered their opinions that it was not safe 
to pay moneys after that sort, for fear of bringing 
themselves and posterity into bondage. ''''^ They 
were pacified, however, for a time, by being assured 
that "this orovernment was rather in the nature of a 
parliament," in which they were represented by as- 
sistants chosen of all the freemen. But this assur- 
ance did not long satisfy the freemen, and at the 
General Court in 1632 they secured the right to elect 
"two of every plantation to confer with the Court 
about raising a public stock." ^ At the same Gen- 
eral Court, that there might be no further doubt on 
the subject, it was ordered that, not only the gov- 
ernor and the deputy governor, but also the assist- 
ants should be chosen annually at the general elec- 
tion.^ 

The order made in 1632 for the selection of depu- 
ties by the towns to represent them in matters of rais- 
ing public revenues, seems to have led in 1634 ^^ ^^e 
selection of deputies to represent the towns generally 
in the sessions of the General Court, and three were 
allowed for each of eight towns then existing. This 
was a very important step. It had become very in- 
convenient, and in fact impracticable, with the in- 

^ Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 70. 
* Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 95. 
'Winthrop, Vol. i, pp. 75-76. 



286 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

crease of population and the extension of the settle- 
ments, for all the freemen to meet at every session of 
the General Court, and, in order that the great body 
of the freemen might have any voice in its proceed- 
ings, it was necessary that they should be repre- 
sented in the meetings by deputies of their own 
choosing. Still the patent nowhere authorized the 
selection of deputies, and this was one of the in- 
stances alluded to by Winthrop when he said that 
the freemen were quick to take liberties without any 
warrant in the charter for so doing. 

The long struggle of the freemen, which resulted 
in the adoption of the Body of Liberties, has been 
described in a former chapter.^ 

At the General Court in 1636, provision was made 
for a "Standing Council," consisting of a certain 
number of magistrates whose tenure of office should 
be for life, unless removed upon conviction of crime 
or other sufficient cause, and soon after Winthrop, 
Dudley and Endicott were chosen members of it. 
There was not a shadow of authority for this in the 
charter, and none but the three named were ever 
elected members of it. Still it was regarded as a 
"sinful innovation," and the people became the 
more jealous of it by reason of the renewal of the 
talk about electing a governor for life, "as if there 
had been some plot to put it in practice," and by 
reason also of the order reducing the number of 
deputies for each town from three to two, which "oc- 
casioned some to fear that the Magistrates intended 
to make themselves stronger and the deputies weaker 

1 Chapter III. 



HOW THE REPUBLIC GREW. 287 

and so in time bring all power into the hands of the 
Magistrates." So strong were the protests that in 
1638 it was ordered that "no person chosen a Coun- 
cilor for Life should have any authorit}^ as a Magis- 
trate, except he were chosen in the annual elections 
to one of the places of magistracy established by the 
patent." 

Much as the people confided in Winthrop, they 
were by no means willing to see him in office for 
life, and from 1633 to 1637 ^^^ ^^^ ^^^t out of office, 
and during this interval no one was re-elected gov- 
ernor, this being done, as Palfre}^ supposes, in order 
that the freemen might emphasize their hostility to 
life terms and vindicate their own right to elect. 
There was opposition again to the election of V/in- 
throp in 1639, "not out of any dislike of him (for 
they all loved and esteemed him)," but out of fear 
lest his re-election "might make way for having a 
governour for life.''^ 

For a time the deputies and the assistants sat to- 
gether as one bod}', and on several occasions a ma- 
jority of the deputies had voted one way and a ma- 
jority of the assistants a contrar}^ way, but the diffi- 
culty had been passed by without settling the disputed 
claim of the assistants to a negative vote. The first 
notable clash between the deputies and the assistants 
occurred when Hooker and his friends in 1634 ^P~ 
plied to the General Court for leave to settle in the 
Connecticut country. The majority of deputies were 
in favor of grantmg their petition but the majority of 
the assistants were against it. Thereupon the Gen- 

Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 299. 



288 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

eral Court agreed to keep a day of humiliation and 
prayer and adjourned to meet the next week. "At 
the opening of the court," says Hutchinson/ "Mr. 
Cotton preached from Hag. 11,4 'Yet now be strong 
O Zerubbabel saith the Lord, and be strong O Joshua 
the son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all 
ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: for I 
am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.' " With deli- 
cate sarcasm Hutchinson adds that "his sermon was 
as pertinent to the occasion as his text," but, never- 
theless, he "prevailed upon the deputies to give up 
the point at that time." 

At the General Court in 1642 "there fell out," as 
Winthrop says, "a great business upon a very small 
occasion." A poor widow, Mrs. Sherman, and Capt. 
Keayne,^ a rich man, got into a dispute about a stray 
pig, and the dispute found its way into the courts and 
from there into the General Court, where a majority 
of the deputies sided with the widow while a major- 
ity of the assistants sided with the rich man, and so 
numerous were the widow's adherents that she had 
a large majority of the total vote. 

This conflict of opinion extended throughout the 
commonwealth, and revived the old controversy about 
the right of the assistants to a negative vote, and into 
the controversy was injected a greal deal of passion 
and bitterness. The matter "was agitated with so 
hot a zeal," says the author of "The Magnalia,"' 
"that a little more and all had been in thejire.'''' It 

'Vol. I, p. 47. 

2 1 infer from the records that he was the same person whose trial for 
•extortion is mentioned in Chap. VI. 
"Vol. I, p. 126. 



HOW THE REPUBLIC GREW. 289 

was a critical time, for, upon the outcome of the con- 
trovers}^ hinged the determination of the question 
whether the future development of the commonwealth 
should be in the direction of a democracy or in the 
direction of a republic. 

The freemen had made rapid and great advances 
toward a democracy. Heretofore the deputies sat with 
the assistants as one body. It was now claimed that 
the majority vote of the whole body should be deci- 
sive, although the majority of the assistants, or all of 
them, should be of a contrar}^ opinion. If this claim 
had been conceded the result would have been an 
almost pure democracy^ for the deputies, the as- 
sistants, and the governor, were all elected annually; 
the governor had no veto power, and, if the assist- 
ants had been shorn of the right to a negative vote, 
there would have been no checks nor balances, such 
as are now generally conceded to be essential to pre- 
vent hasty and ill-considered legislative action, and 
the proposed democracy would doubtless soon have 
gone to pieces. 

The assistants were firm. The deputies were 
equally firm. The clergy sided with the assistants, 
but still the deputies held out. Again Winthrop 
faced responsibility at the risk of losing popularity. 
He upheld the claim of the assistants to the right of 
a negative vote. The result of this was that the 
next year, and always afterward, the deputies and 
the assistants sat as separate bodies. Conflicts be- 
tween the two bodies afterwards arose and they 
were sometimes bitter, notably so in the case of the 

Pur. Ret. — 19 



290 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

Hingham train-band, which arose in 1645. Again 
Winthrop sided with the assistants. For this the 
deputies demanded an inquiry into his conduct.-^ The 
inquiry was granted and Winthrop was acquitted. 
At his trial he made "a Httle speech."^ What he 
said will always be as worthy of careful consideration 
as when his words were spoken: 

"The great questions," he said, "that have troubled the 
country, are about the authority of the magistrates and the 
liberty of the people. It is yourselves who have called us 
to this office, and being called by you, we have our author- 
ity from God, in way of an ordinance, such as hath the 
image of God eminently stamped upon it, the contempt 
and violation whereof hath been vindicated with examples 
of divine vengeance. I entreat you to consider, that when 
you choose magistrates, you take them from among your- 
selves, men subject to like passions as you are. Therefore 
when you see infirmities in us, you should reflect upon your 
own, and that would make you bear the more with us, and 
not be severe censurers of the failings of your magistrates, 
when you have continual experience of the like infirmities 
in yourselves and others. We account him a good servant 
who breaks not his covenant. The covenant between you 
and us is the oath you have taken of us, which is to this 
purpose that we shall govern you and judge your causes by 
the rules of God's laws and our own, according to our best 
skill. When you agree with a workman to build you a ship 
or house, etc., he undertakes as well for his skill as for his 
faithfulness, for it is his profession, and you pay him for 
both. But when you call one to be a magistrate, he doth 
not profess nor undertake to have sufficient skill for that 
office, nor can you furnish him with gifts, etc., therefore 

^ Mass. Rec, Vol. 2, p. 97. 

2 Winthrop, Vol. 2, pp. 22S-230. 



HOW THE REPUBLIC GREW. 29 1 

you must run the hazard of his skill and abih'ty. But if he 
fail in faithfulness, which by his oath he is bound unto, that 
he must answer for. If it fall out that the case be clear to 
common apprehension, and the rule clear also, if he trans- 
gress here, the error is not in the skill, but in the evil of 
the will, it must be required of him. But if the case be 
doubtful, or the rule doubtful, to men of such understand- 
ing and parts as your magistrates are, if your magistrates 
should err here yourselves must bear it. 

"For the other point concerning liberty, I observe a great 
mistake in the country about that. There is a twofold lib- 
erty, natural (I mean as our nature is now corrupt) and 
civil or federal. The first is common to man with beasts 
and other creatures. By this, man, as he stands in relation 
to man simply, hath liberty to do what he lists ; it is a lib- 
erty to evil as well as to good This liberty is incompatible 
and inconsistent with authority, and can not endure the least 
restraint of the most just authority. The exercise and 
maintaining of this liberty makes men grow more evil, and 
in time to be worse than brute beasts ; omnes siimns licen- 
tia deteriores. This is that great enemy of truth and peace, 
that wild beast, which all the ordinances of God are bent 
against, to restrain and subdue it. The other kind of lib- 
erty I call civil or federal, it may also be termed moral, in 
reference to the covenant between God and man, in the 
moral law and the politic covenants and constitutions, amongst 
men themselves. This liberty is the proper end and object 
of authority, and can not subsist without it; and it is a lib- 
erty to that only which is good, just, and honest. This lib- 
erty you are to stand for, with the hazard (not only of your 
goods, but) of your lives, if need be. Whatsoever crosseth 
this, is not authority, but a distemper thereof. This liberty 
is maintained and exercised in a way of subjection to au- 
thority ; it is the same kind of liberty wherewith Christ hath 



292 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

made us free. * * * On the other side, ye know who 
they are that complain of this yoke and say, let us break 
their bands, etc., we will not have this man to rule over us. 
Even so, brethren, it will be between you and your magis- 
trates. If you stand for your natural corrupt liberties, and 
will do what is good in your own eyes, you will not endure 
the least weight of authority, but will murmur, and oppose, 
and be always striving to shake off that yoke ; but if you 
will be satisfied to enjoy such civil and lawful liberties, such 
as Christ allows you, then will you quietly and cheerfully 
submit unto that authority which is set over you, in all 
the administrations of it, for your good. Wherein, if we 
fail at any time, we hope we shall be willing (by God's as- 
sistance) to hearken to good advice from any of you, or in 
any other way of God; so shall your liberties be preserved, 
in upholding the honor and power of authority amongst you . ' ' 

From that period to the end of the commonwealth 
the right of each of the two legislative bodies to 
negative the action of the other seems to have been 
mutually acquiesced in, if not unreservedly conceded. 

It is easy to see in these conflicts between the as- 
sistants and the deputies, that the latter were in 
closer touch with the public pulse, and leaned far 
more than the former toward the enlargement of 
the rights of the people and the curtailing of arbi- 
trary power. In the trial of Gorton and his asso- 
ciates, the elders and all the assistants except 
three advised inflicting the death penalty, but Massa- 
chusetts was saved from this disgrace by the refusal 
of the deputies to concur in the infliction of the 
penalty voted by the assistants. 

In a former chapter^ it was said that the control of 

1 Chap. X. 



HOW THE REPUBLIC GREW. 293 

the clergy over the legislature, the courts and the 
people was "well-nigh supreme."" But, powerful as 
it was, the influence of the clergy never became 
supreme. The elders never succeeded in wholly 
subduing the spirit of independence in the people, 
and ecclesiastical power waned as republican ideas 
gained strength. 

The deputies were never so ready as the as- 
sistants to yield to the clergy, and from the first 
the General Court asserted its authority over the 
churches and gave them to understand that the 
ecclesiastical were subordinate to the civil authorities. 
The church at Maiden, as before stated, was fined 
because the members had presumed to call a minister 
without the consent of the neighboring churches and 
the allowance of the magistrates. The General Court 
also interfered and forbade the members of the North 
Church in Boston to call Michael Powell to be their 
minister. "It was justly obsei'ved upon this occa- 
sion," says Hutchinson,^ quoting from Hubbard, 
"that let the experience of all reformed churches be 
consulted and it will appear that disorder and con- 
fusion in the church will not be avoided by all the 
determinations, advice and council of synods or other 
messengers of churches, unless they be a little actuated 
by the civil authority: all men are naturally so wedded 
to their own apprehensions that, unless there be a 
coercive power to restrain, the order and rule of the 
gospel will not be attended." 

The General Court often sought the advice of the 
elders, but they were given to understand that their 

^ Vol. I, p. 174. 



294 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

advice would be acceptable only when it was asked. 
Dr. Ellis tells us that there are not lacking evidences 
in the records of the General Court *' that the elders 
were sometimes reminded that on some subjects they 
should withhold the utterance of their opinions till 
asked for them, and that, while their advice was 
valued, dictation did not become them."^ 

The church members themselves had decided in 
1632 that one person might not be "a civil magis- 
trate and a ruling elder at the same time."'^ 

At an early day the question was raised whether 
the members of the General Court could be held re- 
sponsible to the churches for what had been said and 
done by them in the discharge of their duties as such 
members; and in the determination of the question 
we again see Winthrop as the central figure in the 
formation of a republic. 

We have already seen him standing out against 
the claim of the deputies and in favor of the right of 
the assistants to a negative vote; now we see him 
standing out against a claim of supervisory power 
for the clergy, acquiescence in which would have 
been as fatal to the republic as acquiescence in the 
claim of the deputies. Yielding to the claim of the 
deputies would have resulted in an unlimited de- 
mocracy; yielding to the claim for supei-visory power 
of the clergy would have resulted practically in an 
ecclesiastical oligarchy. 

The question first became prominent soon after 
the proceedings of the General Court for the punish- 

^ The Puritan Age, p. 191. 
2 Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 81. 



HOW THE REPUBLIC GREW. 295 

merit of those who had remonstrated against the 
prosecution of Wheelwright. A full account of all 
these proceedings with the reasons therefor was sent to 
England "to the end," says Winthrop, "that all our 
Godly friends might not be discouraged from coming 
to us, etc." He adds that "after this, many of the 
church of Boston, being highl}^ offended with the 
governour for this proceeding, were earnest with the 
elders to have him called to account for it." 

No man ever filled the office of governor of the 
colony who had a higher regard than Winthrop for 
the ministers, but, much as he respected them, he 
was not prepared to sacrifice the commonwealth by 
turning over to them all the powers of the govern- 
ment. He was not called to account, but he took 
the first opportunity that offered to say "that if he 
had been called, etc., he would have desired firsts to 
have advised with the elders, ivhether the church had 
power to call in question the proceedings of the civil 
Court.'''' He then proceeded to show in language 
which could not be misunderstood that the church 
had no power "to inquire mto the justice and pro- 
ceedings of the court. "^ 

At a later date, in the unfortunate controversy that 
grew out of selecting a successor for the Rev. John 
Wilson of the First Church in Boston, the deputies 
espoused the cause of the church and appointed a 
committee which made a report not at all pleasing to 
some of the ministers. The Rev. Mr. Flint of Dor- 
chester recorded m his diary a solemn declaration 
against the "spirit of division, persecuting and op- 

^ Winthrop, Vol. i, pp. 247-250. 



296 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

pressing God's ministers and precious saints" as '^a 
great sin" which "threatens a sword of divine 
wrath," and fifteen of the leading ministers sent to 
the General Court a protest against its proceedings. 
"The court," says Hutchinson, "took this address 
into their immediate consideration"; but "first as- 
serted their own authority, and that the acts of the 
court luere not liable to question by any, and that 
free debates were the indubitable right of the courts 
Hutchinson adds: "I have been more particular in 
relating this transaction, because it gives us a pretty 
srood idea of the connection between the civil and 
ecclesiastical power; the churches, notwithstanding 
their claim to independency, being liable to controul 
as oft as their proceedings were disapproved by the 
civil magistrate."^ 

Within a period of less than twenty years after 
the coming of Winthrop there had been laid the 
foundations of a republic. 

From 1644 to the end of the commonwealth 
the attention of the people was directed largely to 
the wars with the Indians, the extension of com- 
merce, the disputes with the Quakers and other 
sectaries, the struggle to maintain the charter, and 
other important affairs, and we do not find that the 
colonists were devoting so much time as formerly to 
establishing guarantees against the exercise by their 
rulers of arbitrary power. This, however, was not 
because the people had grown indifferent or less 
watchful, but because their rulers did not give them 

^ Hutchinson, Vol. i, pp. 247-251. 



HOW THE REPUBLIC GREW. 297 

any cause to believe that additional guarantees were 
necessary. 

There was lacking, however, one thing essential 
to the full development of a republic — the removal 
of the restrictions upon admission to the privileges of 
freemen, so that those who were not members of the 
Puritan churches might, nevertheless, exercise the 
right to vote and take part in governmental affairs. 

The charter had given to the governor, assistants 
and freemen, who should be assembled at any of the 
*^greate and Generall Courts of the said Company," 
*'full power and authoritie to choose, nominate and 
appointe such and soe many others as they shall 
thinke fitt, and that shall be willing to accept the 
same, to be free of the said Company and Bod}', and 
them into the same admitt." There was, it is true, 
no express prohibition against the exclusion of ap- 
plicants on account of their religious views. On the 
other hand, no express authority was given for such 
exclusion on such grounds, and it would be difficult, 
by any process of construction, to imply authority 
from the powers which were given. It would be 
preposterous to suppose that King Charles or the 
parliament ever dreamed of such a construction as 
would confer the right to exclude from the privileges 
of freemen members in good standing of the estab- 
lished church of England; and yet this power was 
given also if the power was given to exclude Bap- 
tists and Quakers. The natural and reasonable con- 
struction of the charter provision was that given by 
Charles II in his letter sent by Bradstreet and 
Norton, wherein he had directed that "all freehold- 



298 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

ers of competent estates, not vicious in conversation, 
orthodox in religion (though of different pursuasions 
concerning church government) , may have their vote 
in the election of all officers, civil and military." 

The manner in which the Theocracy evaded both 
the provisions of the charter and the positive com- 
mands of the King, in order to limit the right of 
citizenship to members of the Puritan churches, has 
already been explained.^ But the commonwealth 
rulers could not have succeeded much longer in ex- 
cluding from the rights of citizenship the non-church- 
members, even if the charter had not been revoked 
and if the King had not interfered. At the close of 
the commonwealth five-sixths of the adult male 
population were non-voters,^ but they were taxed the 
same as the voters and most of them were probably 
equal to the members of the Puritan churches in in- 
telligence and morality. It is not likely that they 
would have submitted much longer to disfranchise- 
ment, even if the King had not come to their aid. 

Long before the end of the commonwealth the 
government itself, in its form and operation, was 
essentially republican. The Body of Liberties did 
not, it is true, contain all the safeguards against 
arbitrary power and all the barriers separating the 
executive, legislative and judicial departments, and 
preventing encroachments by one upon the functions 
of the others, that are contained in the constitutions 
of to-day, but it contained all the safeguards of 
liberty that were then deemed of prime importance 

* See Chapters X and XI. 

* The Puritan Age, p. 203. 



HOW THE REPUBLIC GREW. 299 

and that constituted the chief groundwork of the 
constitutions adopted by the states a hundred years 
later. The governor and the members of the legis- 
lative departments were elected b}' the people. The 
characteristic features of the town grovernments have 
already been noted. The town meetings were primary 
schools for teaching the principles and practice of 
republican government. 

The peculiar situation and condition of the people 
tended to disseminate republican ideas. The common 
dangers which made them reliant upon each other; 
the absence of distinctions founded on rank and 
those existing in old and opulent communities be- 
tween the veiy rich and the very poor; the limited 
territory occupied by them; all these circumstances 
tended to promote intimate business and social inter- 
course and to establish ideas of political equality. 

The experience of those who came here from Eng- 
land, especially those who had suffered from the 
arbitrary power of King Charles I, was not calculated 
to make them fall in love with monarchical forms of 
government. Those who were born and bred here 
had not been dazzled by the magnificence, nor awed 
by the majesty, of kings and royal courts. "Most of 
the inhabitants," says Hutchinson,^ "who were upon 
the stasre in 1686 had never seen a church of Ene- 
land assembly." And most of them had never seen 
a king. 

Of the kings of England during the commonwealth 
period one had been beheaded and another driven 
from his throne, and the reign of the "Merr}^ Mon- 

» Vol. I, p. 318, 



300 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

arch," the best of the three, was characterized by 
such debaucheries and corruption of pubHc and pri- 
vate morals as to disgust all decent people on both 
sides of the Atlantic. More than fifty years of prac- 
tical experience had demonstrated to all that the 
people here could live and live happily without kings 
and nobles and that they were fully capable of gov- 
erning themselves. 

In this period they had laid the foundations of a 
commonwealth. They had all the machinery of 
government in successful operation. They had in- 
creased greatly in population and wealth. They had 
carried on two Indian wars without calling upon 
England to contribute one soldier or one penny. 

How, during this period, they struggled for the 
rip'ht to govern themselves for all time and for entire 
independence from England, will be the subject of 
subsequent chapters.-^ 

So that, long before the revocation of the charter 
the colonists had become thoroughly educated in re- 
publican ideas and wanted only the power and the 
opportunity to establish a government which should 
be not only republican in form but wholly inde- 
pendent. 

1 Chapters XV, XVI. 



XIV 

LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS OF A GREATER 
REPUBLIC— THE UNITED COLONIES OF NEW 
ENGLAND 

No authority for the New England confederation 
can be found in any statute passed by an}^ English 
parliament or in any charter granted by any English 
sovereign. "No patent," says Chalmers,^ "legal- 
ized the confederacy, neither was it confirmed b}' the 
approbation of the governing powers in England. 
Their consent was never applied for, and was never 
given." Chalmers also asserts that "the principles, 
upon which this famous association was formed, 
were altogether those of independency, and it can not 
easily be supported upon any other." 

Whatever ideas of independence the confederation 
may have suggested to the colonists or to the rulers 
of England at a later date, there is no reasonable 
ground on which to suppose that at the date of its 
formation the confederates entertained any secret de- 
sign of using it to aid them in severing allegiance to 
the mother country. 

The chief reasons for forming such a confederation 
were obvious, and were those which were declared 
in the articles afterward adopted. The New Eng- 
land colonists were practically all of the same race 

1 A/i/iais, p. 178. 

(301) 



302 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

and of the same religion, and many of them were 
bound together by the closest ties of blood and mar- 
riage. On one side of them were the French, on 
another the Dutch, and all around them were the 
Indians. In the event of war with any of these, 
they were too remote from England to expect mate- 
rial aid, and such a war, carried on by any one of 
the colonies alone, would have severely taxed its re- 
sources. It is doubtful if Massachusetts, single- 
handed, could have sustained such a war; it is cer- 
tain that neither of the other colonies could have 
done so. The advantage of such a confederation, 
the urgent necessity for it, had been conclusively 
shown in the Pequot war. 

In this connection, however, it may be of interest 
to note one of the reasons stated in the articles of 
confederation afterward adopted, viz.: "The sad dis- 
tractions in England" by which "we are hindered 
both from that humble way of seeking advice, and 
reaping those comfortable fruits of protection, which 
at other times we might well expect." We can 
readily believe that the confederation would not have 
been formed but for the "sad distractions in Eng- 
land." If the English rulers had not been ham- 
pered by these distractions it is pretty certain that the 
colonists would not have dared to form such a con- 
federation. It is difficult for us to believe, however, 
that the colonists united in the confederation because 
they were debarred, by reason of the distractions in 
England, from soliciting the advice and protection 
which otherwise they might have expected and asked. 
If there was anything which the colonists of the 



FOUNDATIONS OF A GREATER REPUBLIC. 303 

Massachusetts commonwealth studiously avoided it 
was asking either the advice or the protection of the 
English rulers. 

"The New England Confederation," says Mr, 
John Quincy Adams,^ "originated in the Plymouth 
colony, and was probably suggested to them by the 
example which they had witnessed, and under which 
they had lived several years, in the United Nether- 
lands." Hubbard gives us this account of the origin 
of the confederation: 

" 'Woe to him that is alone,' saith Solomon. The 
people that came over to New England were necessitated to 
disperse themselves further, each from other, than they in- 
tended ; yet finding that, in their first and weak beginnings, 
they might be exposed to danger by many enemies, and as 
well from the natives as any foreign nations, although that 
they saw they could not be accommodated within the 
bounds of one and the same Patent, yet judged it very ex- 
pedient to be joined together in one common bond of unity 
and peace, by as firm engagement as might be on either 
side. They saw also, by daily experience from the begin- 
ning, that without some such obligation, seeds of jealousy 
and difference might easily be sown between them, either 
about their bounds or other occasions ; wherein all discov- 
ered an unwillingness to be subordinate one to another, yet 
could not be able to stand alone by themselves, without en- 
gagement of mutual assistance."^ 

The matter was agitated for several years, and ar- 
ticles were drawn up in 1638, but nothing was then 

^Address before the Massachusetts Histo f tea/ Society, May 2g, iS^6\ 
Mass. His. Coll., 3d Ser., Vol. 9, p. 211. 

'His. JV. Eng., Vol. 6, Mass. His. Coll., 2d Ser., 465-6. See also ar- 
ticle by Benson J. Lossing, The New England Co7tfederacy, 25 Harper's 
Magazine, p. 627. 



304 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

agreed upon and further consideration of them was 
deferred until 1639.-^ 

Winthrop tells us that in 1637, "some of the mag- 
istrates and ministers of Connecticut being here, 
there was a day of meeting appointed to agree upon 
some articles of confederation, and notice was given 
to Plimouth, that they might join in it, (but their 
warning was so short as they could not come)."^ 

The preliminary negotiations seem to have been 
conducted chiefly by Massachusetts and Connecticut. 
The New Haven colony had not then attained much 
consequence, and Plymouth seems not to have taken 
so active a part in the negotiations as Connecticut. 

The latter colony had no idea of entering into any 
sort of confederation with its more powerful Massa- 
chusetts neighbor which would undermine its own 
autonomy. The settlers of Connecticut, like those 
of Massachusetts, were Puritans of the straitest 
sect. In their laws, in their religious belief, and in 
their daily life, we can see little difference between 
them and their Massachusetts neighbors, but there 
were some sharply defined points of difference be- 
tween the governmental systems of the two com- 
monwealths. One very essential point of difference 
was that, in Massachusetts, none except church mem- 
bers were admitted freemen, and upon this car- 
dinal principle the whole power of the Theocracy 
was based. But either the rulers of Connecticut had 
realized already the dangers of so close a union of 
church and state as existed in Massachusetts, or they 

^ Hutchinson, Vol. i, p. 119. 
2 Winthrop, Vol. i, p. 237, 



FOUNDATIOXS OF A GREATER REPUBLIC. 305 

were long-headed enough to foresee them, and, 
therefore, they did not make church membership a 
condition precedent to the exercise of the privileges 
of citizenship. Winthrop had condemned this too 
great laxity in the Connecticut organization. He 
tells us of the "shyness" on the part of Connecticut 
*'of coming under our government, which, though 
we never intended to make them subordinate to us, 
yet they were ver}^ jealous." At any rate the Con- 
necticut government would not accept the articles 
proposed by the Massachusetts authorities. John 
Haynes, William Pynchon and John Steele came 
over and held a conference with the Massachusetts 
General Court, but the upshot of the matter was that 
nothing was concluded; and after that fresh disputes 
arose about boundaries, and there was some sharp 
correspondence in which Winthrop indulged in 
further criticisms on what he called the ''errors" in 
the Connecticut form of government, one of which 
was that the people of that colony chose divers men 
to fill the offices "who had no learning or judgment 
which might fit them for those affairs, though other- 
wise men holy and religious." 

It is a striking illustration of the fallibility of the 
opinions of men, even so wise as Winthrop is con- 
ceded to be, that the written constitution which Con- 
necticut adopted in 1639 (and which was the first of 
its kind in this country) lasted, with little change, 
for 180 3'ears, and that under it the people prospered 
and lived happy. 

The Massachusetts authorities also complained that 

Pur. Rep. — 20 



3o6 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

those of Connecticut had concluded a treaty with the 
Narragansetts and Mohegans in which they had 
ignored Massachusetts. It is evident that at this 
period the spirit which animated the authorities of 
Massachusetts and Connecticut was not altogether 
conducive to the brotherly harmony essential to the 
proposed confederation. 

So matters drifted along for a year or two. Mean- 
time the governor of the Massachusetts common- 
wealth had received from the Lords Commissioners 
of Plantations in England a peremptory order for 
the return of the charter. Connecticut was also in 
trouble. A new governor had been sent over to the 
Dutch in New York, and he was complaining of the 
intrusion by Connecticut upon the Dutch territory, 
and threatening to establish forts in the territory 
claimed by Connecticut. Moreover the new Dutch 
governor, as Winthrop tells us, was "very inquisitive 
how things stood between us and them of Connecti- 
cut, which occasioned us the more readily to renew 
the former treaty, that the Dutch might not take 
notice of any breach or alienation between us."^ 

The Indians were also becoming turbulent. Gov- 
ernor Haynes, of Connecticut, the Rev. Thomas 
Hooker and others came to Boston and remained 
nearly a month and negotiations for the confederacy 
were resumed. Finally, in 1643, commissioners rep- 
resenting Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven, 
met at Boston and held a conference with a committee 
appointed by the General Court, and "these coming 
to consultation encountered some difficulties, but being; 

^ Vol. I, p. 299. 



FOUNDATIONS OF A GREATER REPUBLIC. 307 

all desirous of union and studious of peace, they readil}'- 
yielded each to other in such things as tended to com- 
mon utilit}', etc., so as in some two or three meetings 
they lovingly accorded upon these ensueing articles" ; 
and on May 29, 1643, the articles were signed by all 
except the Plymouth commissioners, who had not 
then sufficient authorit}'; but soon afterward they 
were ratified by Plymouth also. 

The people of the province of Maine, we are told by 
Winthrop, *'were not received nor called into con- 
federation, because they ran a different course from 
us both in their ministry and civil administration; for 
they had lately made Acomenticus (a poor village) 
a corporation, and had made a taylor their mayor, 
and had entertained one Hull, an excommunicated 
person, and ver}^ contentious, for their minister." 
Making a *'ta3-lor" their mayor might have been 
forgiven, but not the entertainment of the excom- 
municated Hull for their minister. 

Winthrop does not tell us why the people of Rhode 
Island were "not received nor called into the confed- 
eration," but we know very well why they were not. 
The pestiferous malcontents, herded together there, 
had, until that period, employed their time and their 
energies chiefly in quarreling among themselves, and 
they were not wanted by any of the other colonies, 
certainly not by Massachusetts; they had given her 
enough trouble already. In 1640 the General Court 
had ordered the governor to answer a letter sent to 
him (but also concerning the General Court), by 
Eaton, Hopkins, Haynes, and also by "Mr. Cod- 
dington & Mr. Brenton," but the court expressly 



3oS THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

directed "that the answer shal bee directed to Mr, 
Eaton, Mr. Hopkins & Mr. Haynes onely^ excluding 
Mr. Coddington & Mr. Brenton, as men not to bee 
capitulated ivithall by ns^ either for themselves^ or 
the -people of the Hand ivhere they inhabite, as their 
case standethy^ When Coddington and Partridge, in 
1648, in behalf of Rhode Island, requested admission 
into the confederation, their request was denied by 
the commissioners with frigid politeness, accompa- 
nied "with tender respects" and hopes for their 
future "comfort and safety," except upon the condi- 
tion, known to be impossible, that the petitioners 
"and the inhabitants, or the most considerable part 
of them, upon a due consideration of Pl3"mouth 
patent and right, acknowledge yourselves within that 
jurisdiction."^ 

The articles of confederation^ first declare the rea- 
sons which led to their adoption. They set forth, 
among other reasons, that they were "encompassed 
with people of several nations and strange languages 
which hereafter may prove dangerous to us or our 
posterity"; that the natives had lately combined 
against them; and by reason of the "sad distrac- 
tions" in England they were "hindered both from 
that humble way of seeking advice, and reaping, 
those comfortable fruits of protection which at other 
times we might well expect." 

Then the confederation is named the "United 
Colonies of New England." 

Next follow minute provisions defining the powers 

1 Mass. Rec, Vol. i, p. 305. 

* Hutchinson, Vol. i, pp. 140-141. 

^ Winthrop, Vol. 2, pp. 101-106, 



FOUNDATIONS OF A GREATER REPUBLIC. 309 

of the confederation and the authority and duties of 
the commissioners. The confederation was to be, 
*'for offence and defence, mutual advice and succor 
upon all just occasions, both for presenting and pro- 
pagating the truth and liberties of the gospel, and for 
their own mutual safety and welfare"; but It was ex- 
pressly provided that the confederation should in no 
wnse interfere with the local governments, and this 
was reiterated in the article defining the powers of 
the commissioners, which expressly prohibited them 
*'from intermeddling with the government of any of 
the jurisdictions." 

In case of war each colon}- was to furnish soldiers and 
to contribute to the expense in proportion to the num- 
ber of its male inhabitants between sixteen and sixt3^ 
Provisions were made guarding against the danger of 
an}' one of the confederates rashly embroiling the 
others In an unjustifiable war. It was provided that 
no new member should be received into the con- 
federation, nor should any two of the members unite, 
without the consent of the rest. Each colony was to 
be represented in the confederation by two commis- 
sioners, "all in church-fellowship with us," and gen- 
eral authority was granted to the commissioners to 
execute the purposes of the confederation. These 
were to meet once a year, or oftener in case 
of an emergency. The first and second meetings 
were to be held at Boston, the third at Hartford, 
the fourth at New Haven, the fifth at Plymouth, the 
sixth and seventh at Boston, and so on until some 
more central place could be found, "commodious for 
all the jurisdictions." 



3IO THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

The commissioners were authorized to select a 
president from their number, but it was expressly 
provided that he should have no veto power. Power 
was given to the commissioners *'to hear, examine, 
weigh and determine all affairs of war or peace, 
leagues, aids, charges and number of men for war, 
division of spoils or whatever is gotten by conquest; 
receiving of more confederates or plantations into 
the combination with any of these confederates and 
all things of like nature which are the proper con- 
comitants or consequents of such a confederation for 
amity, offence and defence," with the limitation be- 
fore inentioned against intermeddling with the local 
governments. 

The article which conferred something like general 
legislative power upon the commissioners was the 
following: 

"8. It is also agreed that the commissioners for this con- 
federation hereafter at their meetings, whether ordinary or 
extraordinary, as they may have commission or opportunity, 
do endeavor to frame and estabHsh agreements and orders 
in general cases of a civil nature wherein all the plantations 
are interested for preserving peace amongst themselves and 
preventing, as much as may be, all occasions of war or dif- 
ferences with others, as about free and speedy passage of 
justice in each jurisdiction, to all the confederates equally, 
as to their own, receiving those that remove from one plan- 
tation to another without due certificates ; how all the juris- 
dictions may carry it towards the Indians, that they neither 
grow insolent nor be injured without due satisfaction, lest 
war break in upon the confederates through miscarriages." 

Besides defining the powers of the commissioners 



FOUNDATIONS OF A GREATER REPUBLIC. 3x1 

several other matters were agreed upon by the eon- 
federates themselves. One was an agreement for 
extraditing fugitives from justice. Another was an 
agreement for returning fugitives from service, which, 
curiously enough, was the first fugitive slave law 
passed in America. It provided that : 

"It is also agreed, that if any servant run away from his 
master into any of these confederate jurisdictions, that in 
such case upon certificate of one magistrate in the jurisdic- 
tion out of which the said servant fled, or upon other due 
proof, the said servant shall be delivered either to his master 
or any other that pursues and brings such certificate or 
proof." 

The Massachusetts town governments had devel- 
oped there and throughout New England the idea of 
local self-government. We see in the articles of con- 
federation a further development of the same idea. 
That idea, as before stated, was that government of 
all kinds should be brought as near to the people as 
practicable, and that the people of each govern- 
mental subdivision, as nearly as might be consistent 
with the due discharge of their duties to the greater 
body politic, should have supreme power over their 
own local affairs. Therefore, when they adopted 
the articles of confederation, they were particularly 
careful to provide that the federal government should 
not * 'intermeddle" with the government of any of 
the confederates. 

This idea has never been lost sight of in New 
England. During the civil war, in no section of 
the country did the people give to the federal gov- 
ernment a more loyal support; in no part of the 



312 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

country were the courts more firm in upholding the 
reserved ris^hts of the states. 

The doctrine of States' Rights, as interpreted by 
the Southern States in justification of secession, for 
a time brought into greater prominence the neces- 
sity of a strong federal power. Other emergencies 
are likely to arise when greater power will be claimed 
for the federal government. But it would be well 
for us to remember that, to the preservation of the 
republic, it is as essential to maintain firmly the re- 
served rights of the states, as it is to maintain the 
powers conceded to the federal government. To 
concentrate power in the federal government by de- 
stro3"ing the rights of the states is to insure despot- 
ism. We see in the articles of confederation an out- 
line of this idea, which, though but an outline, is, 
nevertheless, clearly drawn. 

We do not find in< these articles the elaborate pro- 
visions which we find in the present constitution of 
the United States, but we find in them the germ of 
a greater republic. Indeed, these articles are im- 
portant, not only for what they contain, but for what 
they suggest. In them is crystallized the idea of the 
republic of to-day. In his address above referred to, 
Mr. Adams says: 

"The distribution of power between the commissioners of 
the whole confederacy and the separate governments of the 
colonies was made upon the same identical principles with 
those which gathered and united the thirteen English 
colonies, as the prelude to the revolution which severed 
them for ever from their national connection with Great 
Britain. The New England confederacy of 1643 was the 



FOUNDATIONS OF A GREATER REPUBLIC. 313 

model and prototype of the North American confederacy of 
I774-" 

The government of the United Colonies of New 
England is as crude and simple, when compared 
with the present elaborate federal government, as 
Fulton's first boat launched upon the Hudson would 
seem to be if laid alongside one of the magnificent 
steamers of the Fall River line. Still the United 
Colonies of New England made the beginning. 
The idea suggested was never forgotten. It was de- 
veloped in the time of the Revolutionary War. It 
suggested the feasibility and the power of a united 
New England, and a united New England proved 
the feasibility and the power of the United States. 
Indeed, without a united New England there would 
have been no possibility of the United States, and 
to-day England, instead of ruling over the Dominion 
of Canada, would, in all likelihood, have been ruling 
over the Dominion of America. 

At the date of the adoption of the articles of con- 
federation there were in Massachusetts thirty towns 
with a population of about fifteen thousand; in Ply- 
mouth eight, with a population of about three thou- 
sand; in Connecticut six, with a population of about 
three thousand; in New Haven five, with a popula- 
tion of about two thousand five hundred. 

The history of the United Colonies of New Eng- 
land is not within the scope of this volume. Its 
proceedings were not always harmonious. Subse- 
quent events exposed the weaknesses, but they also 
demonstrated the advantages to the colonists of the 
confederation. They likewise disclosed to the Eng- 



314 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

lish rulers the disadvantages and dangers likely to 
result to Eno^land from such a union of the colonies. 
For the confederates made treaties with their Dutch 
and French neighbors and exercised other powers 
usually regarded as incident only to sovereign juris- 
diction. All this was calculated to arouse the jeal- 
ousy and to inflame the resentment of the English rul- 
ers who looked upon the confederation as designed 
to pave the way to independence. "In this light," 
says Chalmers/ "was their conduct seen in England, 
and at a subsequent period did not fail to attract the 
attention of Charles II." 

All that need be added is that the last meeting of 
the confederate commissioners was held in Hartford 
on September 5, 1684, and that when the Massachu- 
setts commonwealth went down it was all that re- 
mained of the colonial governments which had 
formed the United Colonies of New England. Ply- 
mouth had never had a charter; New Haven had 
been absorbed in Connecticut; the people of Connect- 
icut had in vain sought to baffle Andros by hiding 
their charter in an oak tree, and the secretary, John 
Allyn, had closed the colonial records with the single 
but expressive word, "Finis." 

^Annals, p. 178. 



XV 

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE AND THE 
REVOCATION OF THE CHARTER— GENESIS OF 
A STILL GREATER REPUBLIC 

Just when or how the idea originated it is difficult 
to determine, but it is certain that, long before the 
end of the commonwealth, the colonists had formed 
the idea of setting up for themselves an independent 
government. 

When our ancestors, nearly one hundred years 
after the revocation of the charter, put forth the 
Declaration of Independence, they had become im- 
bued with ideas of "inherent" and "unalienable" 
rights, of which the colonists in the beginning of the 
commonwealth probably had no conception at all, or, 
at least, no clearly defined conception. Moreover, 
none of the chief reasons given in the Declaration for 
severing allegiance to the mother country came into 
existence until many years after the founding of the 
commonwealth. We read in that Declaration the 
American indictment of George III, but in the for- 
midable list of offenses charged, we find none that 
could have been charged against any of the English 
sovereigns who preceded Charles II, and but few 
that could justly have been charged against even that 
dissolute monarch. 

(315) 



3l6 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

No royal governor tyrannized over Massachusetts 
until Andros came; and, until the reign of Charles 
II, the sovereign power of England rested so lightly 
upon Massachusetts that it was scarcely felt in that 
portion of the English realm. The first of the odious 
navigation acts was not passed until 1651 and this 
was a dead letter in Massachusetts until after the ac- 
cession of Charles II. Nor was any serious effort 
made to enforce the later and more stringent navi- 
gation acts until 1676. 

The colonists prior to the accession of Charles II 
were not influenced so much in their desire for inde- 
pendence by what they had already suffered from 
abuses of royal authority, for they had suffered very 
little in this way, as they were by the apprehension 
of what might, and probably would, follow if royal 
authority should be fully extended and exercised over 
them. They could easily see that an established 
church in America would be as hostile to them here 
as in England; that royal governors and officers, act- 
ing under the orders of men like Laud, probably 
would be as tyrannical here as in England. They 
could see how the navigation acts, when enforced by 
their enemies, might be used to cripple their com- 
merce and manufactures, and that the spirit of hos- 
tility displayed in the acts already passed would be 
likely to inspire others still more oppressive. 

Moreover, the Massachusetts colonists had before 
their eyes the royal government of Virginia, and it 
was such as to make them dread the establishment of 
a similar government over them. The ingratitude of 
Charles II to his old friends in England who had 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPEXDE^XE. 317 

clung to him in his clays of adversity was proverbial. 
^'With regard to the act of indemnity and oblivion, 
the}' universally said that it was an act of indemnity 
to the king's enemies and of oblivion to his friends."* 

His shameful treatment of the Virginia colonists 
proved that he was as ungrateful to his friends in 
America as he was to his friends in England. Of all 
his American subjects, those of Virginia had been 
the most loyal to him, and they were the onl)- ones 
on this side of the Atlantic who greeted his restora- 
tion with genuine enthusiasm. He had scarcely been 
seated upon his throne when he began to impose 
harsh restrictions and burdens upon the Virgin- 
ians, more intolerable even than those which had 
been imposed by Cromwell, their professed enemy. 
Indeed the king's treatment of his Virginia subjects 
could not have been harsher and more cruel if he 
had selected them as special objects of his vengeance. 

Subsequent events proved that the evils which the 
Massachusetts colonists apprehended as the probable 
results of the extension over them of royal govern- 
ment were not the mere forebodings of a gloom}' 
imagination. The outrageous acts of oppression 
which they suffered during the administration of 
Andros, the first royal governor, far surpassed any 
which before that time could have been foretold or 
suspected. 

The grievances complained of in later years gave 
the Massachusetts colonists much broader and better 
grounds upon which to base their complaints than 
any that could be found in supposed violations of 

^ Hume, History of England, Vol. 5, Chap. LXIH. 



3l8 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

their charter and furnished a solid foundation for the 
Declaration of Independencej but in the early years 
of the commonwealth these grievances had scarcely 
been felt, and they were only anticipated. Still, 
it can not be doubted that such, or similar, griev- 
ances were anticipated, and that the sagacity which 
enabled the wiser heads among the colonists to fore- 
see them, made them desirous of guarding against 
them. This is the key which opens to us a clear 
understanding of all their conduct toward the Eng- 
lish rulers. 

Whenever or however the idea of an independent 
government first took definite shape, the inference, 
from many sources, is clear that, long before the 
year 1676, the colonists were contemplating the set- 
ting up of an independent government and were 
seeking to find some good reasons for so doing. 
Winthrop, indeed, had said that, if the safety of the 
commonwealth should require it, the colonists would 
be justified in renouncing the authority of England, 
although this general statement conveys no definite 
idea of the grounds which Winthrop himself thought 
would justify such a course. 

In casting about for some solid foundation upon 
which to base their claim of right to exercise the 
powers of government assumed by them, it was 
natural that the colonists should attempt to find a 
basis in the charter or "patent," as it was usually 
styled by them, granted by King Charles I. 
They had brought with them all the English 
reverence for charters. To Englishmen Magna 
Charta is the most sacred of all human docu- 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 319 

ments. For ages London has tenaciously clung 
to the charter granted by William the Conqueror 
and confirmed by many later monarchs. In the 
eyes of an Englishman a charter granted by his sov- 
ereign is of so sacred and binding a character that it 
can not lawfully be revoked by the king himself with- 
out the consent of the corporation to which it was 
granted. And so the colonists maintained to the last 
that the king had no right to revoke the charter given 
to them. 

But there was this marked difference between an 
Englishman's view of a charter, and the colonists' 
view of the one granted them by Charles I. Eng- 
lishmen look upon a charter granted them as a royal 
guaranty to them of their rights as subjects j the col- 
onists viewed the charter granted to them as a sort 
of compact guaranteeing to them the right to set up 
an independent government of their own. 

Of course it is impossible to reconcile such a claim 
with an acknowledgment that there was left any 
residuum of allegiance owed to England. The col- 
onists, indeed, as will be seen hereafter, did try to 
demonstrate how they could be independent and at 
the same time owe allegiance to England, but the 
experiment was a failure, because it was an attempt 
to reconcile two diametrically opposite and irrecon- 
cilable propositions. 

Nevertheless, the colonists persisted in maintain- 
ing their claim of right to carr}^ on an independent 
government, and the only available foundation, nar- 
row as it was, upon which to base this claim, was 
their charter. They came, b}' a slow and curious 



320 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

process of reasoning, to the conclusion that this was 
not a mere concession of the sovereign to his sub- 
jects, but a compact between them by which the sov- 
ereign had relinquished a large part of the sovereign 
power and had bound his subjects only to a vague 
and shadowy sort of allegiance, resting for its security 
upon the inclination of the colonists more than upon 
the reserved rights of the sovereign. 

Their reasoning in support of this construction of 
their charter was, in substance, that they had pur- 
chased the land they occupied from the Indians, the 
first occupants, whose title was superior to that of 
the English government and was recognized by it; 
that they had also bought all the title of the English 
claimants; that they had transplanted themselves to 
this "remote corner of the earth" at large expense, 
and by their industry had given it all the value it 
had; and that for these reasons they had acquired 
the right to their possessions and the right to govern 
them as they saw fit, without interference by the 
English government.-^ 

This reasoning is not entirely satisfactory, but at 
that time it was the best that could be contrived. 

Convincing proof that the colonists wished, not 
only to sever their connection with the established 
church, but also to sever their connection with the 
established government of England, although at that 
time they may not fully have determined to do so, 
is found in their conduct toward Cromwell and his 
son. Their shyness of doing or saying anything 
(that might afford an excuse to an English king or 

•*See Hutchinson, Vol. i, pp. 230-231. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 321 

Parliament to interfere with their own reHg'ious be- 
liefs and practices can readily be understood. But 
they had no fear of such interference by Cromwell 
or his son. And yet the commonwealth authorities 
were as slow to recognize any right of Cromwell and 
the Long Parliament to interfere with the govern- 
ment on this side of the Atlantic as they were in con- 
ceding such right to the rulers who preceded or to 
those who followed them. 

As the colonists did not derive authority to govern 
themselves from any " inherent" or "unalienable" 
rights, but from their charter, the preservation of it 
was the one thing at all times uppermost in their 
minds. This is manifest in all their official corre- 
spondence with the king, in their conduct toward the 
agents and commissioners sent hither by him, and in 
their instructions to the agents sent over b}' the 
colonists to England. So viewing their charter, it 
became, in the eyes of the colonists, of vastly greater 
consequence than was even Magna Charta in the 
eyes of Englishmen. In their long and arduous 
struggle to preserve the document so highly prized 
by them they were striving, not so much to maintain 
their rights as English subjects, as they were to main- 
tain their supposed rights as citizens of an independ- 
ent government; so that in realit}' their struggle to 
prevent the overthrow of the charter was a struggle 
for independence, and in this struggle we may find 
the seeds of the American Revolution. From the 
time when Charles II began his attempt to enforce 
in the Massachusetts colony the unjust and oppres- 

PuR. Rep. — 21 



322 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

sive navigation acts, the contest for independence 
becomes more clearly defined and more determined, 
and the ground and justice of the claims of the 
colonists become more apparent. From this period 
to the end of the commonwealth the path leading to 
the Declaration of Independence and the American 
Revolution is straight and clearly marked. 

The troubles of the colonists with England began 
very soon after they had set up their government. 
At that time the governmental control of the colonies 
was vested in the Privy Council. But in 1634 ^^ ^^^ 
transferred to a board called the Lords Commission- 
ers for Plantations, of which Laud was at the head. 
In consequence of complaints against the colonists, 
an order of the Privy Council had been made in 
J 533-^ requiring Mr. Craddock, one of the Massa- 
chusetts company, to produce before the board the 
letters patent, and it seems that not until then was it 
discovered by the King and his council that the char- 
ter was in America. The governor and assistants, 
on being informed of the demand for the charter, 
declared that nothing could be done until the meet- 
ing of the General Court in September; but the Gen- 
eral Court did nothing except to order the erection 
of fortifications, and in January following, the min- 
isters, who had been consulted, agreed that the col- 
onists ought not to accept a governor, if sent, but 
*'to defend our lawful possessions if we are abel; 
otherwise to avoide or ■protract,'''' Additional war- 
like preparations were made, but the General Court 
took no further notice of the demand for the return 
of the charter. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 323 

The next step of the authorities in England was 
to institute quo T~:arranto proceedings against the 
company for a forfeiture of its charter. These were 
begun in June, 1635, and a judgment was rendered 
against the patentees then residing in England. But 
six of the original patentees were then in New En- 
gland, and as the process of the Court of King's 
Bench, in which the proceedings were instituted, did 
not extend to New England, no judgment could be 
rendered against them, and, therefore, accordmg to 
the opinion of the crown lawyers, the quo avar7'anto 
proceedings did not work a forfeiture of the charter. 
Further orders were sent by the Lords Commission- 
ers for Plantations to the governor and assistants to 
return the charter. In response to these the General 
Court made a diplomatic answer, prepared by Win- 
throp, September 6, 1638,* but it still held fast to the 
document itself. Another peremptory demand for 
the return of the charter was made in 1639, ^^^ the 
General Court made no answer to it. 

The Lords Commissioners for Plantations had au- 
thority to revoke the charter "//', upon vietv of it^'''' 
they found anything hurtful to the king, his crown 
or prerogative, etc., but this power could be exer- 
cised, so it was claimed, only upon view of the charter 
itself and not upon view of a copy of it, and, therefore, 
so long as the charter could be kept out of sight of 
the commissioners there was no danger of a revoca- 
tion of it. Thus the charter was saved a second 
time by a legal technicality. 

By this time the attention of the king was taken 

^ Palfrey. Vol. i, p. 557. 



324 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

up with affairs in England more than with those in 
America, and after the meeting of the Long Parha- 
ment in 1640, the colonists had little to fear from 
royal interference. 

It is important, however, to note the attitude of 
the Massachusetts authorities toward the Long Par- 
liament and Cromwell. It discloses very clearly that 
they had no more idea of voluntarily surrendering 
their charter to Parliament than they had of sur- 
rendering it to King Charles. It also shows, more 
clearly than anything else, the ideas of the colonists 
as to the powers of the government which they had 
established, and their understanding of the allegiance 
they owed to England. 

The complaints of Samuel Gorton, Dr. Child and 
others, induced the parliamentary commissioners in 
1646 to address to the General Court a communica- 
tion upon the subject. The mere fact that the com- 
missioners were calling upon the authorities of Mas- 
sachusetts to answer complaints against them, implied 
a claim of supervisory jurisdiction, and opened the 
door to appeals to England. Thus there were pre- 
sented to the General Court questions of wide extent 
and of the gravest import — "in what relation we 
stood to the State of England, whether our Govern- 
ment was founded upon our charter or not; if so, 
then what subjection we owed to that State." These 
questions were long and carefully debated, the elders, 
as usual, being called upon for advice. 

At the outset: "One question was, whether we 
should give the Commissioners their title, least thereby 
ive shotdd acknonvledge all that power they claimed 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 325 



'/;/ our jurisdiciioii^ as well as in other plantations, 
which had not so large a charter as we," but "it 
was considered withal that, whatever answer or re- 
monstrance we presented to them, if their stile were 
not observed, it was doubted they would not receive 
it."i 

The more difficult question to settle, however, 
was " in what relation we stood to the state of 
England." The prevailing opinion seemed to be 
that the charter gave them ''''absolute poiver of gov- 
ernment ', for thereby we have power to make laws, 
to erect all sorts of magistracy, to correct, punish, 
pardon, govern and rule the people absolutely.'''''^ 

Upon the question of allowing appeals it was 
"conceived" by the elders, and doubtless approved 
by the magistrates, that: 

"In point of government we have granted by patent such 
full and ample power of choosing all officers that shall com- 
mand and rule over us, of making all laws and rules of our 
obedience, and of a full and final determination of ail cases 
in the administration of justice, that ?io appeals or other 
ways of interrupting our proceedings do lie against us."^ 

After such claims of absolute governmental powers 
it is difficult to perceive what remnant of allegiance 
remained and how to define it. But some shadowy 
sort of allegiance to England was admitted, and the 
magistrates undertook to define "what subjection we 
owed to that State." It was resolved by them that: 

"We did owe allegiance and subjection: i, because our 

^Winthrop, Vol. 2, p. 282. 
* Winthrop, Vol. 2, p. 279. 
^ 'Winthrop, Vol. 2, pp. 2S2-J. 



326 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC, 

commonwealth was founded upon the power of that State, 
and so had always been carried on. 2, in regard of the 
tenure of our lands, of the manor of East Greenwich. 3, we 
depended upon them for protection, etc. 4, for advice and 
counsel, when in great occasions we should crave it. 5, in 
the continuance of naturalization and free liegance of our- 
selves and our posterity. Yet we might be still independent 
in respect of government, as Normandy, Gascoyne, etc., 
were, though they had dependence upon the crown of 
France, and the Kings of England did homage, etc., yet 
in point of government they were not dependent upon 
France. So likewise Burgundy, Flanders, etc. So the 
Hanse Towns in Germany, which have dependence upon 
the Empire, etc. And such as are subject to the imperial 
chamber, in some great and general causes, they had their 
deputies there, and so were parties to all orders there. "^ 

The elders also attempted to define the precise 
nature of the allegiance owed to England as follows : 

" I . We have received the power of our government and 
other privileges derived from thence by our charter. 2 . We 
owe allegiance and fidelity to that State. 3. Erecting such 
a government as the patent prescribes and subjecting our- 
selves to the laws here ordained by that government, we 
therein yield subjection to the State of England. 4. We 
owe unto that State the fifth part of gold and silver ore that 
shall, etc. 5. We depend upon the State of England for 
protection and immunities of Englishmen, as free deniza- 
tion, etc."* 

In all this verbiage we see plainly the claim of in- 
dependence for the commonwealth, but only the 

* Winthrop, Vol. 2, pp. 279-80. 

* Winthrop, Vol. 2, p. 282. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 327 

shadow of an acknowledgment of allegiance to Eng- 
land. No such claim, however, was hinted at in 
any address, or entered upon the records of the Gen- 
eral Court, and we know of it only from the pages 
of Winthrop's journal. When in 1661 the General 
Court entered upon the records its declaration of the 
colonists' rights under the charter, "Concerning our 
liberties," and ''Concerning our dutyes of allegiance 
to our soveraigne Lord the King," the declaration 
was couched in language which gave no intimation 
of the enlarged views on these subjects expressed by 
the magistrates and the elders in the secret consulta- 
tions held by them when preparing the petition to 
the Long Parliament.^ 

Nor did the Massachusetts authorities deem it safe 
to petition for enlarged powers. To do this would 
be inconsistent with their assumption that the powers 
which they already possessed were ample enough. 
Moreover, if Parliament should begin tinkering their 
charter, some of these powers might be curtailed in- 
stead of being enlarged. 

It was therefore resolved to send agents to England. 
The elders advised that these, if they should "dis- 
cern the mind of the parliament toward us," to be 
"prepense and favorable," and "a fit season" should 
occur, should endeavor "to procure such countenance 
of our proceedings, and confirmation of our just 
power, as may prevent such unjust complaints and 
interruptions as now disturb our administrations. 
But if the parliament should be less inclinable to us, 

* See Hutchinson, Vol. i, App. pp. 455-6. 



328 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

we must wait upon providence for the preservation 
of our just liberties."^ 

The agent selected was Edward Winslow, than 
whom no better could have been chosen. Besides 
his commission, he was furnished with a set of gen- 
eral instructions and also with another set "more 
secret," which contained specific directions for his 
guidance in making answers to various anticipated 
objections to the proceedings of the commonwealth. 
One of these was "about our subjection to England," 
and another was "about our independency upon that 
State," and the answers which he was directed to 
make to these objections embodied substantially 
what had before been determined by the magistrates 
and the elders. One of the answers directed to be 
made "about our subjection to England," had not 
before been "conceived," even by the elders, and 
exhibited additional evidence of the allegiance of the 
colonists in this, that they were "faithful and firm to 
the state of England, endeavoring to walk with God 
in upholding his truth, etc., and praying for //."^ 

A "remonstrance and a petition" to the parliamen- 
tary commissioners was also prepared. In this the 
colonists protested against any action by that body 
which might be construed as a precedent "prejudi- 
cial to the liberties" granted by their charter, lest 
"when times may be changed, for all things be- 
low are subject to vanity, and other princes or par- 
liaments may arise, the generations succeeding may 
not have cause to lament and say: ^England sent 

1 Winthrop, Vol. 2, p. 2S3. 

2 Winthrop, Vol. 2, pp. 300-301. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 329 

our fathers fortli with lKipp3^ liberties, which they en- 
joyed many years, notwithstanding all the enmity 
and opposition of the prelacy and other potent ad- 
versaries; how came we to lose them, under the 
favor aiid protection of that state, in such a season 
when England itself recovered its own?"'i 

The complaints of Gorton and the others came to 
naught. After the parliamentary commissioners had 
read the petition and remonstrance of the General 
Court, and had heard the evidence that Winslow 
produced, -it pleased the Lord," says Winthrop, 
to bnng about the hearts of the Committees, so as 
they discerned of Gorton, etc., what they were and 
of the justice of our proceedings against them." 
Ihe commissioners also wrote assuring the General 
Court that, in entertaining the complaints of Gorton 
and the others, -we intended not thereby to encour- 
age any appeals from your justice, nor to restrain the 
bounds of your jurisdiction to a narrower compass 
than IS held forth by your letters patent, but to leave 
you with all that freedom and latitude that may, in any 
respect, be duly claimed by you; knowing that the 
limiting of 30U in that kind ma3^ be very prejudicial 
(if not destructive) to the government and public 
peace of the colony." ^ 

The execution of Charles I followed in 1649 In 
165 1 Parliament, having become incensed by the re- 
fusal of Virginia and some of the other colonies to 
acknowledge its authority, determined to require all 
of them to take out new charters, and thus recognize 
Its supremacy. Winslow informed the General Court 

* Winthrop, Vol. 2, p. 296. 



330 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

that it was ^'the Parliament's pleasure that we should 
take a new patent from them; and keep our courts 
and issue our warrants in their names." There were 
also ominous hints of sending over an English gov- 
ernor. 

This startling information caused grave apprehen- 
sions, but the General Court, taking its usual time 
for deliberation, delayed sending its answer for a 
year. Then the authorities prepared a petition to 
Parliament in which they protested against " being 
wrapped up in one bundle with all the other colonies," 
assuring the Parliament that, "since the first begin- 
ning of your differences with the late king and the 
warre that after ensued, we have constantly adheared 
to you," and on that account had "suffered the 
hatred and threats of other English colonies, now in 
rebellion against you," and hoping that it would 
"goe no worse with us than it did under the late 
king." 

The petition set forth such plausible arguments, 
couched in such pious phraseology, that it quite won 
over those to whom it was addressed.^ The General 
Court, however, as an extra precaution, addressed a 
letter to "the right honorable, his Excellence, the 
Lord Generall Cromwell." setting forth their desires, 
requesting his intercession with Parliament in their 
behalf, and praying "that the Captain of the hoast 
of Israeli may be with 3'ou and your whole army, in 
all your great enterprises, to the glorie of God, the 
subdueing of his and 3'our enemies, and your ever- 
lasting peace and comfort in Jesus Christ."^ 

^ Hutchinson, Vol. i, App. p. 448. 
* Hutchinson, Vol. i, App. p. 450. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 33 I 

The petition to Cromwell was as pleasing and as 
effective as was the petition to Parliament, and from 
this time to the restoration of Charles II in 1660, the 
colonists were in such favor with the Protector and 
the leading authorities in England that they gave 
themselves no further concern about the revocation of 
their charter. There is no doubt that the Puritans 
of the Massachusetts commonwealth were pleased to 
see Cromwell ruling over England, but it is equally 
clear that they had no idea of permitting him, if 
they could avoid it, to rule over them. In him the 
commonwealth found a strong and steadfast friend. 
As Chalmers expresses it,^ "the winning courtship of 
INIassachusets seems to have captivated the rugged 
heart of Cromwell; and, notwithstanding a variety 
of complaints were made to him against that colony, 
so strong were his attachments, that all attempts, 
either to obtain redress or to prejudice it in his es- 
teem were to no purpose." The commonwealth 
retained his esteem though it refused to accede to 
his plan of having the people of Massachusetts re- 
move and settle in Ireland, and also refused to ac- 
cede to another plan, upon which he had set his heart 
still more strongly, of having them abandon Massa- 
chusetts and settle in Jamaica. 

When Cromwell requested the Massachusetts au- 
thorities to furnish reinforcements to aid him in his 
war against the Dutch, they intimated to him that 
they "considered themselves at liberty to continue in 
peace" with their Dutch neighbors, and that ^Hheir 
own act was necessary to bring them into a state of 

^ ^Annals, p. i8S. 



332 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

war." Therefore all they did was to ''''freely consent 
and give liberty to his Highness'' s commissioners, 
Major Robert Sedgewick and Capt. John Leveret, to 
raise within our jurisdiction the number of five 
hundred volunteers to assist them in their enterprise 
against the Dutch, provided the persons might be 
free from legal engagements."^ 

No public notice was taken of Cromwell's death, 
and the Massachusetts authorities ignored the order 
of the Council of State of England to proclaim his 
son as his successor. 

One important act passed in 1651 is mentioned 
here to explain more fully what follows. This was 
the navigation act, which was entitled "iVn act for In- 
crease of Shipping and Encouragement of the Navi- 
gation of this Nation." The substance of it was, so 
far as it affected the American colonies, to prohibit 
the export therefrom of any goods or commodities 
except in English vessels. But this act was passed 
chiefly to strengthen the English navy and as a war 
measure to cripple the Dutch, and, though enforced 
against the southern colonies, it remained during 
Cromwell's time a dead letter in Massachusetts. 

The years intervening between the meeting of the 
Long Parliament, in 1640, and the accession of 
Charles II, in 1660, were years of great prosperity 
in the Massachusetts commonwealth. After the 
Pequot war peaceful relations were maintained with 
the Indians; population rapidly increased; many new 
towns were established; agriculture flourished; com- 
merce expanded; Boston assumed the character of a 

^Hutchinson, Vol. i, pp. 16-S9. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 233 

commercial metropolis, and boasted man}- houses 
*'lar2:e and beautiful whose continual enlaro^ement 
presaged some sumptuous city." Johnson^ gives us 
this account of the progress which the colon}' had 
made in 1642: 

"First, to begin with the encrease of food, you have 
heard in what extrcam penury these people were in at first 
planting, for want of food; gold, silver, rayment, or what- 
soever was precious in their eyes, they parted with (when 
ships came in) for this; their beast that died, some would 
stick before they were cold and sell their poor pined flesh 
for food at 6d. per pound, Indian Beans at i6s. per bushel; 
when Ships came in, it grieved some Master to see the urg- 
ing of them by people of good rank and quality to sell 
bread unto them. But now take notice how the right hand 
of the most high hath altered all, and men of the meaner 
rank are urging them to buy bread of them, and now good 
white and wheaten bread is no dainty, but even ordinary 
man hath his choice, if gay cloathing, and a liquerish tooth 
after sack, sugar, and plums, lick not away his bread too 
fast, all which are but ordinary among those that were not 
able to bring their own persons over at their first coming; 
there are not many Towns in the Country, but the poorest 
person in them hath a house and land of his own, and bread 
of his own growing, if not some cattel ; beside flesh is now 
no rare food, beef, pork, and mutton being frequent in 
many houses, so that this poor Wilderness hath not onely 
equalized England in food, but goes beyond it in some 
places for the great plenty of wine and sugar, which is or- 
dinarily spent, apples, pears and quince tarts, instead of 
their former Pumpkin Pies; Poultry they have plenty, and 
great rarity, and in their feasts have not forgotten the 
^ Wonder- Workitig Providence, Mass. Hist. Coll., 2d Ser., Vol. 7, p. 36. 



334 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

English fashion of stirring up their appetites with variety of 
cooking their food ; * * * 

"Secondly, For rayment, our cloth hath not been cut 
short, as but of late years the traders that way have en- 
creased to such a number that their shops have continued 
full all the year long, all one England; besides, the Lord 
hath been pleased to encrease sheep extraordinarily of late ; 
hemp and flax here is great plenty, hides here are more for 
the number of persons than in England; and for cloth, here 
is and would be materials enough to make it ; but the Farm- 
ers deem it better for their profit to put away their cattel 
and corn for cloathing, then to set upon making of 
cloth. * * * 

"Further, the Lord hath been pleased to turn all the 
wigwams, huts, and hovels the English dwelt in at their 
first coming, into orderly, fair, and well-built houses, well 
furnished many of them, together with Orchards filled with 
goodly fruit trees, and gardens with variety of flowers. 
There are supposed to be in the Mattachusets Government 
at this day, neer a thousand acres of land planted for Or- 
chards and Gardens, besides their fields are filled with gar- 
den fruit, there being, as is supposed in this Colony, about 
fifteen thousand acres in tillage, and of cattel about twelve 
thousand neat, and about three thousand sheep : Thus hath 
the Lord incouraged his people with the encrease of the 
general, although many particulars are outed, hundreds of 
pounds, and some thousands, yet are there many hundreds 
of labouring men, who had not enough to bring them over, 
yet now worth scores, and some hundreds of pounds." 

Johnson also gives us a further account of the con- 
dition of the colonists five years later :^ 

"The Lord is pleased also to compleat this Common- 
> Mass. His. Coll., 2d Ser., Vol. 8, p. 12. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 335 

wealth abundantly beyond all expectation in all sorts of 
needful occupations, it being for a long time the great fear 
of many, and those that were endued with grace from above 
also, that this would be no place of continued habitation, 
for want of a staple commodity, but the Lord, whose 
promises are large to his Sion, hath blest his peoples provi- 
sion, and satisfied her poor with bread, in a very little space, 
everything in the country proved a staple commodity, 
wheat, rye, oats, peas, barley, beef, pork, fish, butter, 
cheese, timber, mast, tar, sope, plank-board frames of 
houses, clabboard, and pipestaves, iron and lead is like to 
be also ; and those who were formerly forced to fetch most of 
the bread they eat, and beer they drink a hundred leagues 
by Sea, are through the blessing of the Lord so encrcased, 
that they have not only fed their Elder Sisters, Virginia, 
Barbados, and many of the Summer Islands that were pre- 
fer'd before her for fruitfulness, but also the Grandmother of 
us all, even the fertil Isle of Great Britain, beside Portugal 
hath had many a mouthful of bread and fish from us, in ex- 
change of their Madeara liquor, and also Spain : nor could 
it be imagined, that this Wilderness should turn a mart for 
Merchants in so short a space, Holland, France, Spain and 
Portugal coming hither for trade, shipping, going on gal- 
lantly, till the Seas became so troublesome, and England 
restrain'd our trade, forbidding it with Barbados, &c., and 
Portugal stopt and took our ships ; many a fair ship 
had her framing and finishing here, besides lesser vessels, 
barques and ketches, many a Master, beside common Sea- 
men, had their first learning in this Colony, Boston, Charles 
Town, Salem, and Ipswitch ; our Maritan Towns began to 
encrease roundly, especially Boston, the which of a poor 
country village, in twice seven years is become like unto a 
small City, and is in election to be Mayor Town suddainly, 
chiefly increased by Trade by Sea, yet of late the Lord 



336 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

hath given a check to our traffique, but the reason may be 
rendered hereafter; nor hath this Colony alone been actors 
in this trade of venturing by Sea, but New-haven also, who 
were many of them well experienced in trafifique, and had 
good estates to manage it, Canectico did not linger behind, 
but put forth to Sea with the other, all other trades have 
here fallen into their ranks and places, to their great advan- 
tage; especially Coopers and Shomakers, who had either 
of them a Corporation granted, inriching themseives by 
their trades very much, Coopers having their plenty of stuff 
at a cheap rate, and by reason of trade, with forraign parts 
abundance of work, as for Tanners and Shomakers, it being 
naturalized into these occupations, to have a higher reach 
in mannaging their manifactures, then other men in N. E. 
are, having not chang'd their nature in this, between them 
both they have kept men to their stander hitherto, almost 
doubling the price of their commodities, according to the 
rate they were sold for in England, and yet the plenty of 
Leather is beyond what they had, there counting the number 
of the people, but the transportation of Boots and Shoes 
into forraign parts hath vented all however; as for Tailors, 
they have not come behind the former, their advantage 
being in the nurture of new-fashions, all one with England ; 
Carpenters, Joyners, Glaziers, Painters, follow their trades 
only; Gun-smiths, Lock-smiths, Black-smiths, Naylers, 
Cutlers, have left the husbandmen to follow the Plow and 
Cart, and they their trades. Weavers, Brewers, Bakers, 
Costermongers, Feltmakers, Braziers, Pewterers, and Tink- 
ers, Ropemakers, Masons, Lime, Brick, and Tilemakers, 
Cardmakers to work, and not to play. Turners, Pump- 
makers, and Wheelers, Glovers, Fellmungers, and Furriers, 
are orderly turn'd to their trades, besides divers sorts of 
Shopkeepers, and some who have a mystery beyond others, 
as have the Vintners. 

"Thus hath the Lord been pleased to turn one of the 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 337 

most hideous, boundless, and unknown Wildernesses in the 
world in an instant, as 'twere (in comparison of other work) 
to a well ordered commonwealth, and all to serve his 
Churches, of which the Author intends to speak of three 
more, which came to be gathered in the compass of these 
years." 

Charles II came to the throne in May, 1660, and 
from this time forward the relations between the col- 
onists and England show more and more clearly 
their purpose to establish an independent govern- 
ment; from this time the struggle to maintain their 
charter is seen more and more clearly to be a strug- 
gle for independence. In the general acclaim with 
which the restoration of Charles II was greeted by 
his subjects, IMassachusetts did not join. No pro- 
clamation of his accession was made there, nor was 
any notice of it entered on the records of the Gen- 
eral Court until fifteen months afterward, and then 
it was announced in a proclamation so framed, ac- 
cording to Chalmers, that ''the authority from which 
that monarch derived his kingship was carefully con- 
cealed, in order that the people of that jurisdiction 
[Massachusetts] might consider the whole as an 
election recetit and ■provincial.'''' '^ Chalmers adds 
that "with a characteristic sourness, the General 
Court published an order on the same day 'prohibit- 
ing all disorderly behaviour, and particularl}- that no 
■person shall presume to drink his majesty'' s health.'' " 

Soon ominous tidino^s beo^an to come from Ensr- 
land. John Leveret, the colonial agent, wrote home 

^Annals, p. 253; Palfrey, Vol. 2, pp. 517-51S. 
Pur. Rep. — 22 



338 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

about the changes which had taken place there; how 
^'Episcopacy, Common Prayer, bowing at the name 
of Jesus, sign of the cross in baptism, the altar and 
organs are in use, and like to be more." Com- 
plaints to the king began to pour in from Quakers, 
Baptists, Episcopalians, and all who had suffered 
from the persecution or oppression of the Massachu- 
setts authorities. It was deemed advisable, there- 
fore, in December, 1660, to send addresses to the 
king and Parliament, filled with professions of loy- 
alty, and to ask the aid of influential persons in 
England in counteracting the efforts of the enemies 
of the commonwealth. 

John Eliot, the "apostle," had published a book, 
entitled "The Christian Commonwealth,"^ in which 
he had outlined the framework of a Biblical com- 
monwealth fashioned after the form "approved of 
God, instituted by Moses among the sons of Israel," 
with "rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, 
and of tens, who shall govern according to the pure, 
holy, righteous, perfect and good law of God, writ- 
ten in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
ment." He also expressed in the book his firm con- 
viction that the time had come when "the Lord is 
about to shake all the earth and throw down that 
great Idol of Humane Wisdome in Governments, 
and set up Scripture Government in the room there- 
of." The book was visionary and the scheme pro- 
posed was impracticable, but no offense was taken 
when the book was published. Indeed, it is not im- 
probable that there were many in the commonwealth 

^ The book is reprinted in Mass. His. Coll., 3d Ser., Vol. 9. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 339 

who thought EHot's scheme of government an im- 
provement upon their own; but in May, i66i,the 
General Court "taking notice" of the book dis- 
covered that there were in it "sundry passages and 
expressions" which were "justly offensive and in 
speciall relating to Kingly Government in England," 
and Eliot was compelled to make a public retraction. 

No substantial change, however, was made in the 
form of government, nor was any attention paid to 
the royal requests, nor was any substantial alteration 
made in the laws passed in the reigns of the king's 
royal predecessors. 

Soon after the accession of Charles II a Council of 
Foreign Plantations was organized, and in 1661 
twelve Priv'y Councillors were appointed a committee 
upon the affairs of New England. 

Among the first acts passed after the accession of 
Charles II were the navigation acts, passed in 1660 
and 1663. The navigation act of 1651 had merely 
prohibited exports from the American colonies, but 
the new acts provided that "no commodity of the 
growth or manufacture of Europe, shall be imported 
into any of the king's plantations in Asia, Africa, or 
America, but what have been shipped in England, 
Wales or town of Berwick, and in English built ship- 
ping, whereof the master and three-fourths of the 
mariners are English, and carried directly thence to 
the plantations," excepting salt for American fish- 
eries, wines from Madeira and the Azores, and pro- 
visions from Scotland. The objects of these acts, as 
declared in the preambles to them, were "the keep- 
ing of his Majesty's subjects in the plantations in a 



340 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

jii'mer dependence^'''' the '' increase of English ship- 
ping," and "the vent of EngHsh woolens and other 
manufactures and commodities." The severe pen- 
alty for violation of either of the acts was forfeiture 
of both ship and cargo. 

Fresh complaints began to come to the king con- 
cerning the doings of his subjects in Massachusetts, 
and the talk of sending over a royal governor was 
renewed. The Rev. John Norton and Simon Brad- 
street were sent as agents to England with carefully 
worded instructions "to present us to his Majesty as 
his loyal and obedients subjects," and to "endeavor 
to take off all scandal and objections which are or 
shall be made against us," but at the same time it 
was specially enjoined upon them that, "you shall 
endeavor the establishment of the rights and privi- 
leges we now enjoy," and that "you shall not engage 
us by any act of yours to anything which may be 
prejudicial to our present standing, according to 
patent y^ 

Another address (dated June 15, 1661) was sent. 
The king returned by Bradstreet and Norton a kind 
and considerate answer (dated June 28, 1662), de- 
signed to allay apprehensions concerning the loss 
of the charter, and offering to renew it. But in 
his letter the king made several demands which 
were ill received by the colonists. These were, in 
substance, that all their laws and ordinances which 
were contrary or derogative to the king's authority 
and government should be repealed; that the charter 
rules for administering and taking the oath of allegi- 

i Palfrey, Vol. 2, p. 524. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 34 1 

ance should be observed; that the administration of 
justice should be in the king's name; that those who 
desired to use the book of Common Prayer and to 
worship after the manner of the Church of England 
"be not denied the exercise thereof, or undergo any 
prejudice or disadvantage thereby," and that "all 
freeholders of competent estates, not vicious in con- 
versation, orthodox in religion (though of different 
persuasions concerning church government), may 
have their vote in the election of all ofBcers, civil and 
Tnilitar3\" The king was careful to add this: "We 
can not be understood hereby to direct or wish that 
any indulgence should be granted to those persons, 
commonl}' called Quakers, whose principles, being 
inconsistent with any kind of government, we have 
found it necessary, wnth the advice of our parliament 
here, to make sharp laws against them, and we are 
well content that you do the like there." It must be 
admitted that the demands of the king were reason- 
able, especially the demand that the members of his 
own church should enjoy the same religious free- 
dom which he allowed the colonists. 

The letter of the king returned by Bradstreet and 
Norton was received by the General Court in Octo- 
ber, 1662, but it was not entered on the records of 
the General Court until IVIay, 1665, more than two 
3^ears afterward.^ The demands which it contained 
were extremely distasteful to the authorities of Massa- 
chusetts. A scapegoat was sought, as is usual when 
the people are angr}^ In this instance the blame was 
laid on Norton, who, as some asserted, "had laid the 

^Mass. Rec, Vol. 4, Pt. 2, p. 58. 



342 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

foundation of ruin to all our liberties." This was a 
most mortifying accusation to one who, like Norton, 
for so long a time had been so prominent and influ- 
ential among his fellow-citizens. He drooped under 
it and died a few months afterward. The Quakers, 
it may be added, did not fail to interpret his death as 
a "sign" of Divine vengeance upon him for the part 
he had taken in persecuting them, and they reported 
it to the king: and Parliament as one of the "remark- 
able judgments" upon their persecutors. 

The controlling spirits in the colony had no idea 
of complying with the demands of the king, or of 
acquiescing in any of his wishes, except the one re- 
lating to the Quakers, which alone met with their 
hearty approval. But as they were not "abel" to 
resist by arms, they again began to "avoide or pro- 
tract," and to send more addresses. By this time, 
however, the king had become satiated with ad- 
dresses, and in 1664 he sent two war ships and sev- 
eral hundred soldiers to Boston, with four commis- 
sioners, to whom were given "full power and au- 
thority to heare and receive and to examine and de- 
termine all complaints and appeales in all causes and 
matters, as well military as criminal and civil." 
They were also instructed "to see how the charter 
was maintained on their part." One of the commis- 
sioners was Maverick, a bitter enemy of the colo- 
nists, who had been fined, imprisoned and banished 
by them. As soon as the General Court was ap- 
prised of what was coming, it ordered the hiding of 
the charter and appointed messengers charged, 
among other duties, "to present their respects" to 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 343 

the commissioners and to request that the under of- 
ficers and sailors coming on shore "at no time ex- 
ceed a convenient number, and that without arms, 
and that they behave themselves orderly amongst his 
Majestys good subjects here and be careful of giving 
no of^ence to the -people and laws of this place.'''' 
Having done this, the General Court awaited the 
arrival of the ships. They cast anchor in Boston 
harbor on July 23, 1664 — the first of the royal navy 
that had ever been seen there. 

The commissioners presented to Governor Endicott 
and the magistrates their commission and instruc- 
tions, together with a letter to the governor from the 
king, in which he stated that the answer to his letter 
sent by Bradstreet and Norton "did not answer his 
expectations." The instructions required the com- 
missioners, besides inquiring into the complaints of 
usurpation of authority, to inquire particularly how 
his demands in the letter sent by Bradstreet and 
Norton had been observed. 

Two other points were impressed upon the com- 
missioners in a set of private instructions to them. 
One was to secure to the king the right of nomina- 
tion or approval of the governor; the other was that 
the militia should be put under command of an offi- 
cer nominated or recommended by the king. 

The commissioners desired that the General Court 
should be called to consider the king's demands, but 
excuses were given and the General Court was not 
convened until after the commissioners had departed. 
Not being able to extort from the governor and mag- 
istrates any such concessions as their instructions 



344 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

called for, the commissioners did not tarry long in 
Boston, but left to settle matters in other of the New 
England colonies and in New York, intending to 
return to Boston after this had been accomplished. 
After the departure of the commissioners, the Gen- 
eral Court held a meeting and proceeded to repeal 
the law limiting the right of voting to church mem- 
bers, but immediately enacted another which re- 
quired, as a condition precedent to the admission of 
freemen, "a certificate under the hands of the min- 
ister or ministers of the place where they dwell that 
they were ortliodox in religion and not vicious in 
their lives, &c.," thus practically leaving to the min- 
isters, as before, the power of admitting to citizen- 
ship. The General Court also appointed a commit- 
tee to draw up another address to the king, petition- 
ing for a continuance of the privileges of the charter, 
"filled with such rational arguments as they could 
find to the end aforesaid." The petition, among 
other "arguments," set forth that "This people did 
at their own charges transport themselves, their wives 
and families over the ocean, purchase the land of the 
natives and plant this colony with great labor, hazard, 
costs and difficulties; * ^- * having also now 
above thirty years enjoyed the a foresaid power and 
privilege of government ivithin themselves^ as their 
undoubted right in the sight of God and manf and 
especially protesting against the appointment and 
authority of commissioners "to heare, receive ex- 
amine and determine all complaints and appeals in 
all causes and matters as well military as criminal 
and civill * * * whereby instead of being gov- 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 345 

erned by rulers of our own choosing {yvhich is the 
fundameiital privilege of our -patenf) and by laws of 
our ovjjie^ we are like to be subjected to the arbitrary 
power of strangers, proceeding not by any estab- 
lished law, but by their own discretions." To this 
address Clarendon, then Lord Chancellor, returned 
a brief and caustic reply, in which he stated that he 
was "amazed to find that you demand a revockation 
of the commission and commissioners without laying 
the least matter to their charge of crymes or exor- 
bitances"; that he knew not "what you mean by 
saying the commissioners have power to exercise 
government there altogether inconsistent with your 
charter and privileges"; insisting that "if in truth, 
in any extraordmary case, the proceedings there have 
been irregular and against the rules of justice, as 
some particular cases, particularly recommended to 
them by his Majesty, seeme to be, it can not be pre- 
sumed that his Majesty hath or will leave his subjects 
of New England without hope of redresse by an ap- 
peale to him, which his subjects of his other king- 
doms have free liberty to make." He concluded 
with this pointed advice: "I can say no more to you 
but that it is in your owne power to be very happy, 
and to enjoy all that hath been granted to 3'ou; bid 
it luitl be absoltdety necessary that you -perfornie and 
pay all that reverence and obedience^ which is due 
from subjects to their king^ and which his Majesty 
will exact from yoti^ and doubts not but to find from 
the best of that colony, both in quality and in 
numbers."^ 

^ Both the address and Clarendon's answer are given in full in Hutch- 
inson, Vol. I, Appendix, pp. 460-465. 



346 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

The commissioners, after leaving Boston, went 
first to New York. They next went to Plymouth; 
then to Rhode Island; and then to Connecticut. To 
each of these were made in substance the same pro- 
posals contained in the letter of the king sent by 
Bradstreet and Norton to Massachusetts, which were: 

" I . That all householders should take the oath of allegi- 
ance, and that justice should be administered in the king's 
name; 2. That 'all men of competent estates and civil 
conversation, though of different judgments, might be ad- 
mitted to be freeman, and have liberty to choose and be 
chosen officers, both civil and military' ; 3. That 'all men 
and women of orthodox opinions, competent knowledge, 
and civil lives, not scandalous,' should be admitted to the 
Lord's Supper and have their children baptized, either in 
the churches already existing, or in congregations of their 
own; 4. That 'all laws, and expressions in laws, de- 
rogatory to his Majesty,' should be 'repealed, altered, and 
taken off from the file.' " 

In all these colonies satisfactory replies were re- 
ceived which elicited the commendation of the king. 

Again the commissioners turned their steps to 
Massachusetts where the rebellious colonists, now 
left alone, awaited their coming without the least 
sign of fear or trembling. The commissioners ar- 
rived in Boston in May, 1665, and at once resumed 
discussion with the authorities of the demands of the 
king. The crisis had now arrived and it was impossi- 
ble longer to "avoide or protract. ' ' The General Court 
met the complaints of the commissioners with firm- 
ness and consummate skill, denying some, justifying 
some, and adroitly parrying others. Not a single 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 347 

essential point in the claim of the colonists was 
yielded by the General Court; not one of the essen- 
tial demands of the king was assented to. The cul- 
mination of the controversy, which lasted about a 
month, was the attempt of the commissioners to ex- 
tort from the General Court its acknowledgment of 
their authority to sit as a court of appeal for the 
hearing of complaints against it. 

After much skillful parrying by the General Court, 
the commissioners, on May 18, 1665, thought to bring 
discussion to a head by a communication containing 
this pointed inquiry: 

"His Majesty sent us with commission to sit as a court 
of appeals in these his majesty's dominions ; but we are 
told that the inviolable observation of your charter seems in- 
consistent with our hearing and determining complaints and 
appeals ; whereupon we have thought it necessary to reduce 
all the discourse thereof into one question, whereunto we 
expect your positive answer, which we shall faithfully report 
to his majesty : whether yon do acknowledge his majesty's 
commission, wherein we are nominated commissioners, to be 
of full force to all the intents and purposes therein con- 
tained." 

The answer being evasive and unsatisfactory, Col. 
Nichols, the head of the commission, on the same 
day addressed the General Court in this plain lan- 
guage: 

"The King will not suffer himself to be deluded, nor his 
counsels to be frustrated ; and I hope you will find better 
counsels about you, and tell us plainly and truly whether 
you will submit to that commission, without any shufHing. 



34S THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

Otherwise, I must say openly and freely to you, when his 
majesty's Commissioners have not that power, that his com- 
mission may not bear authority here, it is time for us to be 
gone out of the country; and, for that cause of imparting, 
we like not. We are a court by his majesty's authority, or 
else we have nothing to do in the Country. We shall leave 
his majesty to speak in his own language to you afterwards, ' ' 

To this the General Court, on May 20, answered 
as follows: 

"We have only pleaded his majesty's royal charter 
granted to us, which we have reason to hope will be accept- 
able to his majesty, it being his special charge to yourselves 
not to disturb us therein. Your proposal to that instruction 
for us to answer to complaints, whereof you say you have 
had many against us, was the occasion of our reply to your- 
selves, signifying that we apprehended our charter to be in- 
fringed by your proceedings." 

But at the same time the General Court offered to 
give the commissioners "an account" of any of their 
proceedings with which they might be "unsatisfied." 
This did not satisfy the commissioners, who on the 
same day continued to "insist upon the former ques- 
tion, and therefore," they said, "we are necessitated 
to declare once more to you, that your positive an- 
swer thereto ought to be had, before we proceed to 
act according to the virtue of his majesty's commis- 
sion." On May 22 the General Court made an- 
swer that: "We humbly conceive it is beyond our 
line to declare our sense of the power, intent or pur- 
pose of your commission; it is enough for us to ac- 
quaint you, what we conceive is granted to us by his 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 349 

majesty's ro3'al charter. If you rest not satisfied 
with our former answer, it is our trouble, but we 
hope it is not our fault." 

Exasperated by their failure to elicit from the Gen- 
eral Court the acknowled^-ment souirht, the commis- 
sioners, on May 23, gave notice that at 9 o'clock the 
next morning, at Captain Breedon's house in Boston, 
the}^ would sit *'as his majesty's commissioners to 
hear and determine the cause of Mr. Thomas Deane 
and others plfs. against the governour and company, 
and Joshua Scottow, merchant, defts. for injustice 
done Mr. Deane and others, when the Charles, of 
Oleron, came into this port, whereof we thought fit 
to give you this notice, that the governour and com- 
pany is complained of, and that we do expect you 
will, by your attorney, answer to the complaint." 
The General Court immediately met this last move 
of the commissioners by issuing a proclam.ation 
denjdng their authority to proceed with the hearing, 
and on the next day, before the appointed time, a 
messenger of the General Court appeared, and with 
a trumpet announced the proclamation, forbade the 
people attending the hearing, and then summoned 
Deane and his co-plaintiffs to appear before the court 
for a rehearing of their complaints, and sent an invi- 
tation to the commissioners to be present at the hear- 
ing, if so inclined. 

Finding themselves baffled at every point, the com- 
missioners abandoned the contest and departed.^ 

* For a fuller account of the controversy between the Commissioners 
and the General Court, see i Hutchinson, 215-22S; Danforth Papers^ 
Mass. His. Coll., 2d Ser., Vol. 8, p. 46. 



350 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

After leaving Boston, the commissioners went to 
Maine to adjust the claims of Gorges and Mason, 
between whom and Massachusetts there had been a 
long and bitter contest over the question of jurisdic- 
tion of that province. Despite the continued and 
vigorous protest of the Massachusetts authorities, the 
commissioners set up a government there, but after 
they had left the country, Massachusetts, in defiance 
of the king"'s commands and the action of the com- 
missioners, again assumed jurisdiction, overturned 
the courts established by the commissioners, and set 
up others created by the General Court. 

On April lo, 1666, an order was made by the king 
recalling the commissioners, forbidding any interfer- 
ence with Maine, and requiring the General Court to 
send four or five persons to England with authority 
to answer the complaints which had been made 
against Massachusetts. No attention was paid to the 
order to send agents to England, and, as we have 
seen, the authorities openly defied the order forbid- 
ding interference with Maine. 

In September following petitions were presented 
to the General Court from some of the inhabitants 
requesting compliance with the king's demands, but 
"the signers gave offence to court and severall from 
each town, were summoned to appear to answer for 
the same." 

As if to make some atonement for all this defiance 
of royal authority, the General Court, on April 21, 
1669, sent to the king a present of a ship-load of 
masts, of which he was then greatly in need, and the 
gift was graciously acknowledged by him. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 35 1 

There can be no question that at this time, if not 
before, the colonists were in rebelHon, and there is 
not the sHghtest doubt that they would have been in 
armed rebellion if they had felt themselves "abel" 
to maintain it with any assurance of success. Al- 
read}', as Clarendon expressed it, they had been 
"hardened into a republic." 

Some of the grounds of their claim of right to 
establish and maintain an independent government 
were hinted at in the petition ordered to be drawn 
up by the General Court prior to its meeting with 
the royal commissioners. But all the grounds of 
their claim to independence were not stated in that 
petition, for the obvious reason that probably this 
would have precipitated at once a conflict of arms 
for which the colonists did not then deem themselves 
prepared. So, in the petition, they were simply 
feeling their way, venturing only as far as they dared, 
not as far as they wished, in the assertion of what 
they conceived to be their rights. 

Just what were the rights guaranteed by the char- 
ter it is difficult to determine. The charter, as has 
been shown in a former chapter,^ was in some re- 
spects vague and indefinite in its terms, especially 
in the parts which failed clearly to define the 
boundary lines between the municipal authority of 
the company and the sovereign power of England. 
This was a fault in the charters of similar companies. 
Nothing could be found, nothing ever has been 
found, either in the law of nations or in judicial 
precedents, authoritatively settling the construction 

* Chapter 11. 



352 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

of such charters or the disputed questions arising out 
of them. Upon some of them leai'ned lawyei's and 
commentators have expressed opinions, but they do 
not agree in their opinions. 

In determining the vaHdity of the claims made by 
the colonists, it is evident that the transfer of the 
charter from England to America could not affect the 
construction of it. Its language meant the same 
thing in one place as in the other. 

And, granting that the company had a right to 
inove itself, as well as its charter, to America, it 
could not by such transfer enlarge its powers. A cor- 
poration now in Massachusetts could not enlarge its 
powers by moving from one town to another. 

Nevertheless, here in America was a colony rapidly 
growing in population and wealth, three thousand 
miles from the mother country. It was essential that 
there should be a local government and that the au- 
thority for establishing it should be derived from 
some source. In determining where this authority 
was vested and what were its boundaries there are 
several rights to be considered. 

First. There was the right of England to sover- 
^eign power. 

Second, There was the right of local self-govern- 
ment of the Massachusetts Company, derived from 
the charter. 

Third. There was the right of local self-govern- 
ment, possessed alike by the inhabitants of the colony, 
whether members of the Massachusetts Company or 
not, and not derived from any charter, but based 
upon the laws and customs of England, or possessed 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 353 

as an inherent right by the members of the com- 
munity. 

However these various rights were to be defined 
and reconciled with each other, it became plain at 
the outset that steps were necessaiy to the formation 
of a local government of some kind. As the colony 
grew and its population, commerce and wealth in- 
creased, it became necessary to pass additional laws 
and regulations, and the local government was con- 
tinually expanding its powers. 

The colonists did not, as already stated, base au- 
thority to exercise the powers which they assumed 
upon any inalienable or inherent rights. INIore than 
a hundred 3'ears later such rights were prominently 
set forth in the Declaration of Independence. But 
the great body of the Puritans had not progressed so 
far in their ideas of republican government during 
the period of the commonwealth. The Puritans in 
England, in the great rebellion, had rebelled not so 
much against monarchy as against the monarch. 

The colonists, as we have seen, based their asser- 
tion of right to govern themselves in America very 
largely upon the charter itself. According to their 
construction of it they did not, of course, consider 
their powers of government limited to the making of 
laws and ordinances relating to such matters of local 
concern as in this day are usually left to subordinate 
municipalities. If their laws and ordinances had 
been so limited, no question would have been raised 
either as to the derivation or the exercise of their 
powers of local self-government. But the colonists 
Pur. Rep. — 23 



354 



THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 



did not stop with the exercise of such powers. They 
punished citizens for exercising the right to worship 
according to their own reHgious views. They re- 
quired oaths of fideHty to the commonwealth. In 
1643 ''there arose a scruple" about taking that part 
of the oath of office which required the office-holder 
to swear allegiance to the king, "whereupon it was 
thought fit to omit that part of it for the present," 
and for many years this "scruple" continued to pre- 
vent such recognition of royal authority. Lechford 
records that in the freeman's oath, "I doe not re- 
member expressed that saving which is and ought to 
be in all oathes to other Lords — Saving the faith 
and truth which I beare to our Soveraigne Lord the 
King, though I hope it may be implyed." But 
no such "saving" was either expressed or implied. 
The colonists failed also to set up the king's arms in 
the courts of justice, probably by reason of the same 
"scruple" before mentioned. Their laws nowhere 
acknowledged that the authority for making them 
was derived either from the king or Parliament, and 
the enacting clause was merely, "It is ordered by 
this Court & the authority thereof.^'' Their legal 
processes omitted the name of the king and ran in 
the name only of the commonwealth. They coined 
money. They ignored, and refused obedience to, 
the English navigation acts. They denied the right 
of appeal to any appellate court or tribunal from the 
decree of their own courts. And, finally, they de- 
nied the authority of the English government to 
have tried and determined by any of its tribunals 
complaints against the colonists for alleged abuse of 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 355 

the powers granted to them, or for alleged usurpations 
by them of powers not granted.^ 

If the colonists had any such rights as they claimed, 
they did not derive them from the charter. By their 
acceptance of it they had acknowledged the sovereign 
jurisdiction of England over the territory covered by 
it, and her authority to make the grant which was 
made. By their acceptance of the charter they had 
also recognized the authority of England to levy and 
collect taxes, one of the highest attributes of sover- 
eignty'. 

Whatever legislative authority was granted to the 
company was given with the express reservation that 
the laws and ordinances enacted pursuant to it "be 
not contrar}-' or repugnant to the laws and statutes of 
this our relm of England." Jurisdiction to determine 
whether they were contrary or repugnant was in the 
sovereign power itself, just as the jurisdiction to de- 
termine whether the laws of the states are contrary 
or repugnant to the constitution or laws of the United 
States is vested in the federal and not in the state 
courts. 

And, inasmuch as the company was a corporation 
invested only with such powers as were granted to 
it, undoubtedly authority was reserved to inquire, 
by quo ivar7'a}ito or other appropriate judicial pro- 
ceedings, whether the grantees were abusing the 
powers granted or were usurping those not granted 
at all. 

^\x\ \.\\& Andros Tracts is a reprint of a paper printed in 16S9 con- 
taining "an abstract of some of the printed laws of New England, which 
are either contrary, or not agreeable to the laws of England." Vol. 3 
P- 13- 



356 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

It is difficult, therefore, to find any plausible argu- 
ment, based on reasons then urged, on which to sustain 
the claim made by the colonists of their right to 
establish and maintain an independent government, 
or to exercise the powers which they did exercise. 
That the people of this country had ample grounds 
in later years to support such a claim does not affect 
the question of the rights of the colonists under their 
charter. 

It should be observed, however, in this connection 
that the colonists never admitted the right of English 
rulers to exercise the taxing power in the arbitrary 
manner in which it was used by Charles II in the 
later years of his reign, and no one, when the charter 
was granted and accepted, could have foreseen that it 
ever would be so exercised. 

For several 3^ears afterward there was another lull 
in the efforts of the English rulers to bring to terms 
their rebellious subjects in Massachusetts. But it 
must not be supposed that this lull was due either to 
the present of the ship masts, or to ignorance of, or 
indifference to, what was going on in Massachusetts. 

War between England and the Dutch had begun 
in 1664. In 1665 a dreadful plague had carried off 
more than one hundred thousand of the English 
people, and m 1666 a great fire had swept London 
from one end to the other, leaving fifty thousand 
people homeless. The bold De Ruyter scoured the 
ocean and chased the British fleets into the Thames 
and the Medway. In 1667 he sailed up the Thames, 
destroyed the shipping at Sheerness, burned the En- 
glish men-of-war in the sight of all England, and 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 357 

blockaded the capital. On the da}- when the roar of his 
guns was heard in the streets of London, the day on 
which England had sunk to the lowest depths of 
her degradation, it is said that the "Merry Monarch "^ 
was feasting and pla3'ing with the dissolute women of 
his court. A humiliating peace with the Dutch was 
declared in the same 3'ear, but it was of short dura- 
tion. The condition of England continued to be 
such as to allow but little thou2:ht of the colonies in^ 
America. A profligate and wasteful monarch and 
an equally profligate and wasteful ministiy had bank- 
rupted the treasury and impoverished the people. 
Dissensions and scandals at home and defeats abroad 
had brought continued disaster and disgrace to the 
English people. Their thoughts were turning to 
Oliver Cromwell and the proud position of England 
among the nations of the earth when he ruled, and 
they were beginning to wish that another like him 
might appear to rescue the honor of the kingdom. 
Another war with the Dutch broke out and the at- 
tention of rulers and people, of the whole world, was 
directed to the terrific naval battles in which England 
sought to regain her prestige on the ocean and to 
establish again the glor}' of the English navy. 

But even during this period the English rulers 
were not wholly oblivious to affairs in the ^Nlassachu- 
setts commonwealth. At one of the meetings of the 
Council of Foreign Plantations, held in 1 671, there 
was a discussion as to the form of a circular letter to 
be sent to the New England colonies which appeared 
"to be very independent as to their regard to Old 
England or his ]Majesty, rich and strong as they now 



358 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

were." Some apprehension was expressed of the 
colonists "breaking away from all dependence on 
the Nation," and there were doubts whether it were 
better policy to send "a menacing or a conciliatory 
letter." It was finally determined to send a concil- 
iatory letter by an agent to be selected for that pur- 
pose, but, owing to the pressure of more important 
public matters in England, neither agent nor letter 
was sent. 



XVI 

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE AND THE 
REVOCATION OF THE CHARTER — GENESIS 
OF A STILL GREATER REPUBLIC— Continued 

Peace with the Dutch was declared in 1674, and 
the management of colonial affairs was again vested 
in the Privy Council, which exercised its authority in 
such matters through a standing committee called 
*'The Lords of Trade and Plantations." 

Two years before this, however. Parliament had 
passed another and still more odious act, intended 
to supplement the former navigation acts. This act 
imposed duties upon sugars, tobacco, indigo, cotton, 
wool and other commodities, transported yrt^/// one 
colony to another. 

Meantime the enemies of the commonwealth had 
not been idle. Gorges and Mason were persistent in 
their complaints of the infringement of the common- 
wealth on the territory which they alleged was cov- 
ered b}^ the patent issued to them. And the Lon- 
don merchants were continually complaining of the 
violation by the colonists of the navigation laws. 
But the most active and implacable of the enemies 
of the commonwealth was Edward Randolph. Be- 
sides being entrusted with various offices and special 
missions, he was the person usually selected to carry 
messages from the king to the colonists, to gather 

(359) 



360 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

and report to the king and privy councilors such in- 
formation as they desired, and he was depended upon 
as a general informer to spy into and report the mis- 
doings of the people of Massachusetts. 

In the execution of the various missions entrusted 
to him, he v^as as untiring as he was relentless. He 
made himself thoroughly familiar, even to the mi- 
nutest details, with the organization of the govern- 
ment established in the commonwealth, and the 
workings of every department of it, with the customs 
and manners and characteristics of the inhabitants, 
and even with the opinions which prevailed among 
them on every matter which was the subject of dis- 
cussion. The Commissioners of Plantations acknowl- 
edged "that they had received more information from 
him about New England than of all other inen." In 
carrying on the business in which he was engaged, 
he is said to have made no less than eight voyages 
across the Atlantic within a period of nine years. ^ He 
flitted back and forth like a bird of ill omen, now 
coming from England with threatening inessages, 
then returning with fresh complaints to the king of 
the performances in America, telling him that the 
colonists paid no more attention to his letters than 
they did to the London Gazette, and urging the in- 
stitution of quo warranto proceedings which, he said, 
would "unhinge their government." In America, he 
was always busy tormenting the authorities, foment- 
ing dissensions and discontent, and collecting evi- 
dence to be used against the colonists. In England, 

' He wrote a "short narrative" of his ''proceedings and several voy- 
ages to and from New England to Whitehall," which is reprinted in 
the Andros Tracts, Vol. 3, p. 214. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 36 1 

he was equally busy in presenting new complaints 
and furnishing proofs of them, and pouring into the 
ears of the king and privy councilors stories calcu- 
lated to inflame them and spur them on to more vig- 
orous action against the king's subjects on this side of 
the Atlantic. By the colonists he came to be looked 
upon as one *'who went up and down to destroy 
them." The one object of his life seemed to be the 
destruction of the Massachusetts commonwealth. 

The complaints against the Massachusetts authori- 
ties continued coming to the king from all quarters, 
but, so far, neither his requests nor his orders had 
been sufficient to induce the General Court to send 
agents to England. The excuse given, when any 
was given at all, was *'that the colony was too poor 
to employ agents, and had no meet instruments." 

x\t last the king, pursuant to a recommendation of 
the Priv}^ Council at a meeting held in December, 

1675, ^^^^ Randolph as a special messenger to Mas- 
sachusetts, with a letter referring to the complaints 
of Gorges and Mason, and requiring that the colony 
send over agents to answer the charges made, and 
threatening that, if the authorities persisted in disre- 
garding his demands, the charter would be annulled. 

Randolph arrived in the beginning of the year 

1676, and, as the General Court was not in session, 
he submitted the king's letter to the governor, John 
Leverett, and the magistrates. The letter was at- 
tested by the king's private secretary, Henry Coven- 
try. The governor pretended that he had never 
heard of him and asked Randolph who he might be. 
Upon being informed, the governor then read the 



362 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

letter aloud, but, as if to emphasize his contempt for 
both the king and his messenger, he sat during the 
reading with his hat on and his example was imitated, 
by some of the magistrates. 

Randolph requested that the General Court be 
convened in order that steps might be taken to com- 
ply with the king's demands, but various excuses 
were found and the court was not called together un- 
til after his departure. 

The brief answer to the king's letter returned by 
the governor and magistrates denied the complaints 
made against the colony, but stated that it would be 
necessary, in order to make a suitable reply, to con- 
vene the General Court. 

During Randolph's stay he busied himself, as 
usual, in prying into the affairs of all the New Eng- 
land colonies, and especially in stirring up disputes 
and fomenting factions in Massachusetts. He did not 
fail to observe the open violation of the navigation 
acts and complained of this to the governor. The 
governor treated his complaints ver}^ uncivilly. The 
reply which he gave to Randolph concerning these 
•complaints is proof of the rapid progress which had 
been made up to that time by the Massachusetts col- 
onists in the development of their purpose to set up 
and carry on a government of their own. This reply, 
according to Randolph, was as follows: 

"He freely declared to me that the laws made by your 
Majesty and your Parliament obligeth them in nothing but 
what consists with the interest of that Colony ; that the leg- 
islative power is and abides in them solely to act and make 
laws by virtue of a charter from your Majesty's royal father; 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. T,6;^ 

and that all matters in difference are to be concluded by 
their final determination, without any appeal to your Majesty ; 
and that your Majesty ought not to retrench their liberties, 
but may enlarge them if your Majesty please ; and said your 
Majesty had confirmed their charter and all their privileges 
by your Majesty's letter of the 28th of June, 1662, and that 
your Majesty could do no less in reason than let them enjoy 
their Hberties and trade, they having, upon their own charge, 
and without any contribution from the crown, made so large 
plantation in the wilderness."^ 

After Randolph's departure the General Court was 
convened and, the elders having first been con- 
sulted, it was deemed advisable to comply with the 
king's demand to send over agents. Stoughton and 
Bulkeley were selected for that purpose and were dis- 
patched, in 1677, with instructions to answer the 
complaints of Gorges and Mason, but they were 
specially enjoined to use the "utmost care and cau- 
tion" in keeping within the limits of their instructions 
and "in the preservation of our patent liberties." 

When the claims of Gorges and Mason were sub- 
mitted to the English judges the latter decided that 
neither Mason nor Massachusetts had any legal right 
to the four towns of Hampton, Exeter, Dover and 
Portsmouth, over which Massachusetts had be- 
fore exercised jurisdiction, and these were forthwith 
constituted a ro3'al province named New Hampshire 
and placed under the control of Edward Cranfield. 

The judges decided in favor of the claims of 
•Gorges's heirs to the province of Maine, which the 
king wished to bestow upon one of his illegitimate 

» Palfrey, Vol. 3, p. 2S7. 



364 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

sons. This wish of the king, however, was thwarted 
by the purchase of the rights of the Gorges heirs by 
the assents of Massachusetts. 

As might have been foreseen, this action of the 
Massachusetts authorities served still further to in- 
flame the anger of the king, who, as soon as he 
was informed of it, sent a message to the Gen- 
eral Court demanding the surrender of the prov- 
ince by Massachusetts upon repayment of the sum 
paid to the Gorges heirs and at the same time de- 
manding compliance with the long neglected com- 
mands of himself and his royal predecessors. The 
General Court, however, refused to surrender the 
province of Maine, nor did it make any haste to 
comply with the other commands of the king. 

The Gorges and Mason controversy having been 
disposed of, the Massachusetts agents were ques- 
tioned by the Commissioners of Plantations concern- 
ing their authority to answer other complaints. The 
agents amazed the commissioners by answering 
^'that they had no other power than to defend the 
claims of these men [Gorges and Mason] , but were 
not authorized to answer any other question than as 
■private men'''''^ whereupon they were informed "that 
his Majesty did not think of treating with his own 
subjects as with strangers, and to expect the form- 
ality of powers."^ 

Stoughton and Bulkeley remained in England 
nearly three 3^ears, and, while there, the General 
Court forwarded to the king several more addresses, 
but it showed no disposition to comply with the most 

^ Chalmers's Annals^ pp, 403-4. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 365 

essential of the king's demands. One of the mat- 
ters on which the king was most insistent was 
compHance with the navigation acts, but in one of 
its addresses the General Court had the boldness 
to assert that these were ''an invasion of the rights, 
liberties and properties of the subjects of his majesty 
in the colony, they not beijig represented in Partia- 
nienf — thus, for the first time, distinctly putting 
forth one of the cardinal points urged nearly one 
hundred years later in the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. 

The objection now brought forward to the exercise 
by the English government of the power to tax the 
colonists deserves special attention as clearly mark- 
ing the beginning of the claim persistently urged 
from that time to the Revolution, and emphasized in 
the Declaration of Independence. 

It was the arbitrary and despotic exercise of the 
taxing power by the English rulers which, more than 
all other causes combined, led to the revolution. It 
is true that by the acceptance of the charter the col- 
onists had recognized, in a general way, the right of 
the English government to tax them. But it was a 
cardinal principle of the unwritten English constitu- 
tion that there should be no taxation without repre- 
sentation, and, though the charter did not expressly 
give the colonists the right of representation, they 
might well argue that this was implied as one of the 
conditions precedent to the imposition of taxes upon 
them. However this may be, they were clearly 
right in contending that it could not have been in- 
tended, either by those who granted, or by those who 



2,66 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

accepted the charter, that the taxing power should 
be perverted from its legitimate governmental function 
and used to cripple the commerce and to destroy the 
manufactures of the colonists. Such a perversion of 
it as was exhibited in the reig^ns of Charles II and 
George III justifies revolution as a last resort, and 
would be as certain to lead to rebellion in any land 
inhabited by people who have inherited English ideas 
of constitutional libertv as it did in America in 
1776. 

It beinof evident that nothing^ could be accom- 
plished through the agents then in England, they 
were permitted to return, bringing with them a letter 
from the king, dated July 24, 1679, in which he de- 
manded that other agents be sent over within six 
months, fully instructed and authorized to make the 
answers and transact the business desired by the king. 
A synopsis of the king's letter, as given in Chalm- 
ers's Annals,^ shows that "among other requisitions, 
he commanded: That liberty of conscience should be 
allowed to those of the church of England, or other 
subjects, not being papists ; that all of competent 
estates should be admitted freemen and magistrates; 
that the number of assistants, which the charter re- 
quired, should be chosen in future; that those, who 
were invested with any privilege or office, should take 
the oath of allegiance; that military commissions and 
process of courts should run in his name; that all 
ordinances, repugnant to the laws of trade, should be 
abolished; that every assistance should be given to 
the collector of his customs, in discharge of his duty." 
^ P. 409. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 367 

Randolph followed immediatel}- after the returning 
agents, bringing with him a commission appointing 
him customs-collector at Boston. 

No attention was paid to the king's demand to 
send over other agents, further than to make the 
poor excuse, which was probably regarded by the 
king as worse than none, "that thecountr}' was poor; 
proper persons were afraid of the seas, as the Turkish 
pirates had lately taken their vessels, and that his 
majesty was still employed in the most important 
affairs." The General Court complied with some 
of the least important of the king's demands by fill- 
ing up the number of assistants, requiring oaths of 
allegiance, and issuing commissions and process in 
the king's name; but no substantial change was 
made in the laws or in the established policy of the 
commonwealth. 

When Randolph began to exercise his office, he 
was at once met with persistent and violent opposi- 
tion and was hindered by the authorities in every 
way possible. He was prosecuted and fined, and 
denied an attorney. His servants were mobbed and 
the vessels seized b}^ him were forcibly taken from 
him. Toward the end of 1680 he returned to En.^- 
land to make fresh complaints and to get enlarged 
authority. 

When reports of the manner in which his com- 
mands had been treated were laid before the kin-^ 
they served, as might have been expected, to in- 
crease his resentment and to strengthen his deter- 
mination to bring the Massachusetts government 
under subjection to royal authority. He wrote 



368 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

another letter to the General Court, repeating his 
former remonstrances and admonitions and directing 
that other agents be sent within three months with 
authority to settle the matters in controversy. 

In the early part of 1681, Randolph came again, 
this time armed with a commission as ^'Collector, 
Surveyor and Searcher for all New England," but 
no more respect was paid to his authority than be- 
fore, and when he requested to know of the General 
Court "whether it will admit the patent above men- 
tioned [his commission] to be in force or not, that 
he may know how to govern himself," the Court re- 
mained silent. 

The king sent another severe letter to the General 
Court (dated October 21, 1681), characterized by 
Chalmers as "perhaps the most extraordinary one 
ever sent by a sovereign to his subjects; containing a 
sketch of the history of the disobedience of Massa- 
chusetts, as drawn by the then ministers of England." 
We "once more," the letter concludes, "charge and 
require you forthwith to send over your agents fully 
empowered and instructed to attend the regulation 
of that our government, and to answer the irregularity 
of your proceedings therein," and threatening that on 
failure to do so, quo -warranto proceedings would be 
instituted "whereby ouj charter granted unto you, 
with all the powers thereof, may be legally evicted 
and made void. And so we bid 37^ou farewel."^ 

It was now plain that the king could no longer be 
put off by addresses, and that failure to comply with 
the royal demand for sending new agents would not 

1 Chalmers's Annals, pp. 443-449. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 369 

be excused by tlie king, either on account of the ex- 
pense or of the apprehension of their capture on the 
way b}' Turkish pirates. Indeed, in regard to the 
latter contingency, there is Httle room for doubt that 
the king would not have mourned over it as a na- 
tional calamity if the pirates had captured the agents 
and all the members of the General Court. There 
was nothing left to do, therefore, but to comply with 
the royal demands, and Joseph Dudley and John 
Richards were selected as agents and sent to England. 
They sailed on May 31, 1681. Randolph was at 
their heels to dispute anything they might say, and 
to thwart any efforts that might be made by them to 
alia}' the displeasure of the king. 

The colonial agents, in August following their ar- 
rival in England, submitted to the king's councilors 
a voluminous document containing answers to the 
various demands and complaints contained in the 
king's former letters, and especially to those con- 
tained in his letter of October 21, 1681, referred to 
in the preceding pages. ^ Some of the most serious 
demands and charges, together with the answers 
thereto, are here given. They will sen-e to show 
the general character of the complaints made by the 
king against the ^Massachusetts colonists and of the 
reasons then urged by the latter in justification of 
their former course. 

^ The document is given in full in Chalmers's Annals, pp. 4:50-461. 
It sets out first in a column entitled "Charges," a brief synopsis of the 
various requirements and complaints made in former letters of the kino^; 
next in a column entitled "Answers," the matters alleged by the colo- 
nists in excuse or justification, and next in a column entitled "Proofs," 
the evidence adduced in support of the answers. 
Pur. Rep. — 24 



370 



THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 



Charges. 
His majesty's letter, 
of the 24 July, 1679, to 
the governor and com- 
pany of the Massachu- 
fets colony, requires: 
istly. That agents be 
sent over in six months, 
fully instructed to an- 
swer and transact 
what undetermined at 
the time. 



2dly. That free- 
dom and liberty of 
conscience be given to 
such persons as desire 
to serve God in the 
way of the church of 
England, so as not to 
be made thereby ob- 
noxious, or discoun- 
tenanced from sharing 
in the government. 
Much less that they, 
or any other of his 
majesty's subjects, 
(not being Papists,) 
who do not agree in the 
congregational way, be 
by law subjected to 
fine or forfeitures, or to 
other incapacities, for 
the same. 



Ansivers. 

To which the agents of the 
said colony humbly answer: 

That the delay of sending 
such agents hath been occa- 
sioned by the danger of the 
seas; Connecticut agent and 
several others having been 
taken by the Turks, and ran- 
somed at extreme rates. That 
the arrear of debt, by reason 
of the late war with the In- 
dians, had so far impover- 
ished them, as to make them 
almost incapable of the ex- 
pence of such attendance. 

There is no law nor usage 
there to bar the use of the 
English liturgy, nor have any 
persons been obstructed who 
desired the same; nor is there 
any law to hinder any per- 
sons of the church of Eng- 
land from being chosen into 
the government, but the vote 
and suffrage of the people 
are free and without any re- 
straint for such, as well as 
any others. 

Whatever has been form- 
erly, there is now no law 
put in execution against dis- 
senters but what is consonant 
to the law of England, and 
of like force against those of 
the congregational way as 
any others. 



Proofs. 



This the agents 
know. 



And the debt 
of the colony 
was, at the re- 
ceipt of those 
letters, about 
20,000 1. 

New Engl. 
Laws, p. 56. The 
law, prohibiting 
all persons, ex- 
cept members of 
churches, from 
being freemen, is 
repealed. And 
the agents know 
the practice to 
be as in their an- 
swer. 



The agents 
know this to be 
true. Vid. Laws» 
fo. 45-67: Meet- 
ing-houses: And 
absence from 
meeting. 



3dly. That no oth- 
er distinction be ob- 
served in making of 
freemen, than that 
they be inen of com- 
petent estates, rateable 



There is no other distinc- 
tion made in the making of 
freemen, than that they be 
freeholders of los. rateable 
estate, and of the protestant 
religion. 



The Laws, p. 
56, make out 
this. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE, 



371 



CJiarg-cs. 
at los. according to 
the rules of the place; 
and that such, in their 
turn, be capable of 
magistracy, and all 
laws to be made void 
that obstruct the 
same. 

* * * 
His majesty, by let- 
ter of the 13 Septem- 
ber, 16S0, complains: 

istly. That few of 
his directions in his 
former letter had been 
pursued by the general 
court in New England, 
and that the considera- 
tion of the remaining 
part of them were put 
off on insufficient pre- 
tences. 

* * * 
His majesty, by let- 
ter of 21st of October, 
1681, complains: 

istly. That Mr. Ran- 
dolph, being appointed 
searcher, collector, and 
surveyor, of his ma- 
jesty's customs, in 
Massachusetts colonj^, 
to prevent the breaches 
of the acts of naviga- 
tion. 

That all his care had 
no effect ; in regard, 
attachments were 
granted against him 
and his officers for 
doing their duties. 



A »s7vcys. 
And all freemen are capa- 
ble of being chosen to any 
trust in the magistracy there; 
and all laws, obstructing the 
same, repealed on his maj- 
esty's particular commands 
for the same. 



That their delay, or slow- 
ness of procedure, proceeded 
not from any want of allegi- 
ance or doubt of giving his 
majesty all satisfaction there- 
in, nor was it any disadvan- 
tage to any his majesty's sub- 
jects there for whose avail the 
said complaints were made; 
but that they might proceed 
with satisfaction amongst 
themselves. 



Proofs. 
And men of 
the church of 
England are ad- 
mitted freemen • 
as also all Pro- 
testants of lOS 
rateable estate. 



That Mr. Randolph, on 
sight of his majesty's letters 
patents, was received and 
acknowledged as collector, 
searcher, and surveyor, of his 
majesty's customs, and his 
letters patents accordingly 
enrolled. 

That no other complaint, 
or suit, against his majesty's 
officers hath been at any time 
countenanced, cw damage 
given thereupon, but such as 
in their best judgment has 
been pursuant to the pro- 
viding damages for the officers 
just vexing the subjects. 



This the agents 
know to be true. 



Vid. the act. 



372 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

Charges. Answers. Proofs. 

And, when any of- That, for ordinary trials 

fenders were prosecu- in his majesty's stated courts, 

ted in his majesty's nothing liath been demanded 

name, the officers were or taken of Mr. Randolph 

obliged (against law) but in extraordinary cases; 

to deposit money be- where juries were summoned 

fore trial could be ob- at his instance, and travelled 

tained, and afterwards far on purpose, so much has 

forced to pay costs and been taken as to defray their 

suffer other hardships, necessary attendance; which 
will be prevented in future, 
and all cases reserved to the 
ordinary terms if the officer 
be directed thereto. 
That appeals to his That if, without either 

majesty in matters of restriction of the sum or diffi- 

revenue were refused to culty of the case, all matters 

be admitted. indifferently may, by the offi- 

cer or his deputy, be re- 
moved from his majesty's 
courts there, and the subject 
forced to transport himself 
into this kingdom of Eng- 
land, it will force them to 
quit their woods upon z.ny 
pretence rather than suffer (No proof is 
such inconvenience, and cited in support 
thereby wholly discourage all of the last an- 
trade in that his majesty's swer.) 
plantation, of which we 
humbly pray his majesty's 
gracious consideration. 

It must be admitted that the answers were in- 
geniously drawn and that probably they were the 
best that could be devised, but considering the facts, 
with which the king by this time was thoroughly con- 
versant, it is not surprising that the answers were far 
from being satisfactory to him. It is questionable 
whether the old adage "a poor excuse is better than 
none," holds true when applied to the excuses given 
by the agents to the king. The probability is that 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 373 

they were viewed b}' him as mere subterfuges and 
that they served still further to inflame his resent- 
ment. 

At their first hearing before the Privy Council, the 
agents were required to produce their instructions 
from the General Court, when it was found that 
they contained no such powers as the king had re- 
quired them to be invested with, whereupon they 
were informed that unless they "speedily obtained 
such powers as might make them capable to satisfy 
on all points, a quo ^varraiito should proceed."^ The 
position of the agents was most embarrassing. They 
were pressed by the king's councilors to make con- 
cessions which they could not make without violating 
instructions which they dared not violate. But they 
could see plainly that, without such concessions, it 
would be impossible to avert the impending destruc- 
tion of the commonwealth. They wrote home, ex- 
plaining to those in authority the state of affairs in 
England, and plainly indicated that there was no 
hope for the commonwealth except by submission to 
the king's demands. 

Their letters carried dismay to those who still hoped 
for the presei*vation of the charter. The General 
Court again ordered days of fasting and prayer. 
INIore addresses were sent to the kins^. Addresses 
were also distributed among the people of the com- 
monwealth, and the advice of the elders was sought. 
*-In general it was thought better to die by the hands 
of others than b}' their own," and instructions were 
sent to the agents in England to give up the province 

* Hutchinson, Vol. i, p. 302. 



374 I'H^ PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

of Maine, if that would save the charter, but ^^to 
make no concessions of any privileges conferred upon 
the colony by the charter." 

Randolph, fearing for his life, '*^as a subverter of 
the constitution, by virtue of an ancient law," had 
petitioned in September, 1682, to return to England, 
and the permission asked was given.-' 

About this time an exposure was made of an al- 
leged attempt of the Massachusetts authorities to 
bribe the king by a present of £2,000. The ex- 
posure excited derision and tended to bring the col- 
onists into still greater disrepute.^ 

The king and his councilors were now fully bent 
upon bringing to terms his rebellious subjects in 
Massachusetts, and, as a first step, Randolph, whom 
Chalmers styles "the general accuser during those 
days against the governor and company of Massa- 
chusetts," in June, 1683, filed with the Lords of the 
Council articles of high crimes and misdemeanors 
against the Governor and Company of Massachusetts, 
which we may be sure embody all the causes of com- 
plaint having any foundation upon which to, base 
them. It was charged: 

"istly. They assume powers that are not warranted by 
the charter, which is executed in another place than was 

^ Chalmers's Anjials, p. 411. 

2 Subsequent investigation of this improbable storj of attempted 
bribery has shown that it grew out of a premeditated scheme, concocted 
b}'^ the perfidious Cranfield, the ro_val governor of New Hampshire, to 
trap the magistrates of Massachusetts and to render their cause still 
more odious to the king. But it served its purpose at the time. It 
greatly embarrassed the agents in England and mortified the friends of 
the commonwealth on both sides of the Atlantic. See Palfrey, Vol. 3, 
p, 410, note i; Hutchinson, Vol. i, p. 303. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 375 

intended. 2ndly. They make laws repugnant to those of 
England. 3rdly. They levy money on subjects not in- 
habiting the colony : (and consequently not represented in 
the general court). 4thly. They impose an oath of 
fidelity to themselves, vi^ithout regarding the oath of allegi- 
ance to the king. 5thly. They refuse justice, by withholding 
appeals to the king in council. 6thly. They oppose the acts 
of navigation, and imprison the king's officers for doing 
their duty. /thly. They have established a naval office 
with a view to defraud the customs. 8thly. No verdicts are 
ever found for the king in relation to customs, and the courts 
impose costs on the prosecutors, in order to discourage trials. 
9thly. They levy customs on the importation of goods from 
England. lothly. They do not administer the oath of 
supremacy, as required by charter. iithly. They have 
erected a court of admiralty, though not empowered by 
charter. I2thly. They discountenance the church of Eng- 
land. I3thh'. They persist in coining money, though they 
had asked forgiveness for that offence."^ 

The quo ivarranto proceedings, so long threatened 
and so long dela3^ed, were now begun in earnest, but 
this time in the Court of Chancery. The reason given 
for this was that the jurisdiction of the Court of Chan- 
cery extended to the colonies, and it was desired to 
avoid the objection, before made to the judgment of the 
Court of King's Bench, that it did not bind the mem- 
bers of the company residing in America and that 
hence their charter was not forfeited. 

Randolph scurried across the Atlantic to serve the 
writ, but at the same time he brought a declaration 
from the king ''that if the colony, before prosecution, 
would make full submission and entire resignation to 

* Chalmers's Annals, 462. 



376 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

his pleasure, he would regulate their charter for his 
service and their good, and with no further alterations 
than should be necessary for the support of his gov- 
ernment there." 

In the "Hutchinson Collection of Papers"^ is 
found a paper entitled "Arguments against relin- 
quishing the Charter," which the editor of the col- 
lection supposes to have been written in November, 
1683, and which is noted as "characteristick of the 
early habits of resistance to tyranny in New Eng- 
land." It was doubtless prepared by some of the 
ministers whose advice was sought, and gives, in the 
form of "objections and answers," some of the ar- 
guments which probably were then influential in in- 
ducing the colonists to refuse "full submission and 
entire resignation to his pleasure" required by King 
Charles. Among the objections and answers are the 
following: 

"Obj. 4. But what Scripture is there against this full 
submission and entire resignment? 

"Ans. There is the sixth commandment. Men may not 
destroy their poHtical any more than their natural lives. All 
judicious casuists say, It is unlawful for a man to kill him- 
self when he is in danger, for fear he shall fall into the hands 
of his enemies, who will put him to a worse death, i Sam. 
31. 4. There is also that Scripture against it, Judges ii. 
24, 27; and that i Kings, 21.3. The civil liberties of the 
people in New England are part of the inheritance of their 
fathers ; and shall they give that inheritance away ? 

"Obj. 5. They will be exposed to great sufferings if they 
do it not. 

1 Mass. Hist. Coll., 3d Sen, Vol. i, pp. 74-81. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 377 

"Ans. Better suffer than sin, Heb. 11. 26, 27. Let 
them put their trust in the God of their fathers, which is 
better than to put confidence in princes. And if they suffer 
because they dare not comply with the wills of men against 
the will of God, they suffer in a good cause, and will be 
accounted martyrs in the next generation, and at the great 
day." 

The desperate nature of the situation was now 
evident to ever}^ one, and none could fail to see the 
handwriting on the wall, portending the revocation 
of the charter and the destruction of the com mo n- 
weahh. 

In England, the "Merry Monarch" now felt secure 
of his crown. A large part of the people there, who 
had long chafed under the galling restraints of Puritan 
rule, but had been awed by it into at least outward 
decorum, now gave themselves up to the enjoyment 
of all the vile pleasures which a dissolute monarch 
and his dissolute favorites sanctioned by their own 
example. Not only were the Puritans no longer 
influential in the government, but to the rulers in 
England and to a large part of the English people 
they had become objects of contempt and derision. 

Only a few months before, quo -warranto proceed- 
ings had been begun against the city of London and 
its ancient charter had been declared forfeited on the 
most flimsy pretexts, one of which was that the city 
had imposed a small toll upon goods brought to 
inarket there, in order to defray the expense of re- 
building the market buildings which had been de- 
stroyed by the great fire in 1666. The cause of the 
city was pleaded by the ablest lawyers of the time, 



378 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

but without avail. ^^The office of judge was at that 
time," says Hume, "held during pleasure, and it 
was impossible that any cause, where the court bent 
its force, could ever be carried against it."^ Similar 
proceedings were begun against all the municipal 
corporations in the kingdom which had excited the 
displeasure or tempted the cupidity of the king and 
his favorites. 

On the other hand, the commonwealth had been 
impoverished by the heavy expenses of King Philip's 
war, and by two great fires in Boston, one in 1676 
and one in 1679. It had many enemies within its 
own borders and Randolph, by his machinations, 
was continually stirring up fresh discord and discon- 
tent. There were also, by this time, many in the 
colony to whom the rigid restraints of the common- 
wealth had become distasteful and who longed to see 
them broken down. And there were time-servers 
and place-hunters who hoped to profit by a change 
of government. 

In such a situation of affairs further resistance by 
the poor and feeble Massachusetts commonwealth 
would have been a hopeless undertaking. The gov- 
ernor and a majority of the assistants voted to sub- 
mit to the pleasure of the king, but the deputies held 
out to the last and entered of record this short but 
emphatic dissent: "The deputies consent not; but 
adhere to their former bills." 

However, more addresses were sent, and Robert 
Humphreys, a London lawyer, was employed by the 

' History of England, Vol. 6, Chap. 69. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 379 

General Court to defend and was instructed "to spin 
out the case to the uttermost." 

The addresses and petitions of the General Court 
fell on deaf ears and excited only ridicule in Eng- 
land. No time was lost in pushing the quo warranto^ 
and, for once, no complaint could" be urged against 
the slow action of the Court of Chancery. Hum- 
phreys, obeying his instructions from the General 
Court, endeavored to delay the proceedings and to 
obtain more time for filing an answer, but the court 
refused to grant it. The case was pushed to a 
speedy hearing. Of course Randolph was on hand 
with the requisite amount of proof, and on October 
23, 1684, final judgment of forfeiture was entered.^ 

The precise grounds of forfeiture specified in the 
judgment were these: 

First. That the governor and company had as- 
sumed "the unlawful and unjust power to leavy money 
of our Subjects and leige people to the use of them 
the said Governor and Company of Mattachusetts Bay 
aforesaid under colour of Lawes or Ordinances by them 
de facto ordained and established without any other 
right title or Authority whatsoever," — in the levy 
and collection of taxes and duties. 

Second. That the}' had also, pursuant to the laws 
and ordinances established by them, "and without 
any other right and against Our Will," erected a mint- 
house and coined money. 

Third. That they had also made and published 
another law or ordinance "to the effect followingr 
that is to say: That noe man should be urged to take 

1 Mass. His. Coll., 4th Ser., Vol. 2, pp. 246-27S. 



380 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

an oath or subscribe to any Articles Covenants or 
Remonstrances of publique and Civill nature but such 
as the Generall Court (meaning the pubhque Assem- 
bly aforesaid) had considered allowed and required. 
And that noe oath of any Magistrate or other Officer 
should bind him any further or longer then hee was 
resident or reputed an Inhabitant of that Jurisdiction 
(meaning the bounds and premisses in the said 
Letters Patents above specified and granted)." 

Fourth. That they had also required an oath of 
fidelity to their government (the oath required being 
copied in full in the judgment) to be taken by ''all 
setled Inhabitants amongst them who had not already 
taken the same," also by "all strangers who after 
two moneths had their abode there." 

The judgment then recites that by reason of such 
usurpations, 

"Our service of and for the keeping of our peace and 
good Rule and Government of Our people there was and is 
much impeded to the great damage of Our People residing 
there and to our noe small prejudice and grievance. By 
reason whereof the said Governor and Company of Matta- 
chusetts Bay aforesaid have forfeited the said Letters 
Patents," and "Therefore by the said Court here itt is ad- 
judged That the aforesaid Letters Patents soe as aforesaid to 
them the said Governor and Company made and granted 
and the Inrollment thereof be vacated, Cancelled and annihi- 
lated and into the said Court restored there to be cancelled." 

There was some delay, probably owing to the 
death of King Charles, and the exemplification of 
the judgment was not issued until after the crowninr^ 
of his successor, James II. Of the latter no favors 



THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 381 

could be expected by the colonists. "He had no 
sooner ascended the throne," says Chalmers/ "than 
he transmitted proclamations of that event, to be pub- 
lished in New England. The letter which conveyed 
official notice of that deplored event to the governor 
and magistrates, informed them, in the language of 
insult, which ought never to be spoken to the af- 
tiicted, 'that they were not written to as a govern- 
ment, their patent being cancelled'; which, by put- 
ting them in remembrance of what they had lost, 
sei"ved onl}^ to throw a gloom over a transaction 
where gladness should alone have presided." One 
of the first acts of the new king was to issue the ex- 
emplification of the judgment vacating the charter, 
which bears date October 13, 1685. 

Regarding the legality of the judgment rendered 
it is not now necessary to inquire. When the king 
wanted a thing done in those times it was eas}^ 
enough to find a way to do it. He had determined 
to have the charter annulled and it was done. The 
precious document, to which the colonists had clung 
so long and so tenaciousl}^, was now of no more 
value than so much waste paper, and a death-blow 
had been struck to the commonwealth. 

All were about to be placed upon an equality — not 
as freemen, but, as nearly as Andros could make 
them, his vassals — and they and their descendants 
were to wait for nearly a hundred years for the full 
development of the republic. But the seed had been 
planted and it did not die with the commonwealth. 

Soon the people of Massachusetts were to see new 

^ Annals, p. 417. 



382 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

and strange sights — a royal governor, gay equipages, 
brilliant uniforms, and, more galling than all these, 
an Episcopalian minister in his surplice, reading the 
Book of Common Prayer in the South Church in 
Boston, while the members of the Puritan congrega- 
tion stood in the streets, waiting until he had con- 
cluded before they could enter and hold services in 
their own church. 



XVII 

THE ANDROS SEQUEL 

The charter had been overthrown, but the common- 
wealth itself was not yet quite dead. It was some 
time before the fate of the charter was known in 
America, and some time after that before the ofBcial 
announcement of it was received. Meantime the 
oflicers of the commonwealth exercised their oflices 
as usual, the General Court continued its meetings, 
and elections were held as before. On May 14, 1686, 
the triumphant Randolph appeared in Boston with a 
copy of the judgment against the charter and a com- 
inission for the officers of a provisional government, 
of which Joseph Dudley was to be the president. The 
General Court was in session, and on the 17th a copy 
of the commission was presented and read. The last 
session was held on the 20th, when the Court ad- 
journed to meet "on the second Wednesday in Oc- 
tober next at eight of the clock in the morning." 
But it never convened again. 

And now the charter was gone; the General Court 
was no inore; the Theocracy had been overthrown; 
of the commonwealth nothing was left but the ruins. 

Great changes had taken place between the begin- 
ning and the end of the commonwealth. The popu- 
lation of Massachusetts, in 1665, is supposed by Pal- 

(383) 



384 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

frey^ to have been about twenty-five thousand, in- 
habiting fifty-two towns. By the year 1676 it is said 
that five hundred and fifty vessels had been built in 
Massachusetts, of which two hundred and thirty 
ranged from fifty to two hundred and fifty tons 
burden.^ 

At the end of the commonwealth these ships were 
not only carrying on a large trade with the other 
colonies, but they were crossing the Atlantic bearing 
fish, lumber, furs and other products of domestic in- 
dustry, and returning laden with stores of foreign 
goods suited to the wants and tastes of the colonists. 

Captain Cleyborne, of the Garland frigate, who 
was in Boston in 1673, reported that *'the trade of 
New England is very great to all parts. It hath be- 
come a magazine of all commodities. Ships daily 
arrive here from Holland, France, Spain, &c., bring- 
ing with them the productions of these countries."^ 

There had been a great increase in the number of 
artisans and in manufactures. Josselyn said that 
"some of their merchants are damnable rich," and 
that "there are none that beg in the Countrey." 
Randolph also said that there were "no beggars." 

In the rural regions large tracts of land had been 
brought into cultivation, the farms were well stocked 
with domestic animals, and there was abundance of 
fruit of many kinds. 

Boston had grown greatly. Its population at the 
end of the commonwealth probably considerably ex- 
ceeded five thousand. In 1637, according to Josse- 

iVol. 3, p. 35. 

2 David A. Wells in First Century of Reptiblic, 151. 

'Chalmers's Annals, p. 433. See also /</., 416. 



THE ANDROS SEQUEL. 385 

lyn,* there were not man}' houses, and but two ordi- 
naries, "into which if a stranger went he was pres- 
ently followed by one appointed to that Office, who 
would thrust himself into his company uninvited, 
and if he called for more drink than the Officer 
thought in his judgment he could soberly bear away, 
he would presently countermand it and appoint the 
proportion, beyond which he could not get one 
drop." But in 1671 he speaks^ of many fair shops 
of "Brick, Stone, Lime, handsomely contrived," 
"three meeting-houses," of streets "many and large, 
paved with pebble stone," and says that "the town 
is rich and very populous," and he does not forget to 
mention that "at the Tap-houses in Boston I have had 
an ale-quart spiced and sweetened with sugar for a 
groat." 

The inhabitants, especially of Boston and the 
neighboring towns, were not only enjoying the com- 
forts of wealth, but had begun to aspire to the pos- 
session of its luxuries, and this change showed itself 
in better houses, furniture and dress than the early 
colonists could have afforded or would have desired. 

In a short time after the end of the commonwealth 
period, we find even the pious Sewall sending to 
London for goods for his wife, his daughter and 
himself — "a pattern of good silk to make my wife a 
Gown," a "piece of flowered Lute string q t be- 
tween 30 and forty yards to make Gowns and Petti- 
coats for my daughters," "good black Paddisway, 
enough to make Two Womens Suits," an "end of 

^ T-MO Voyages^ p. 173. 
* T1V0 Voyages^ pp. 161-162. 
Pur. Rep.— 25 



386 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

coloured Brodcloath to make myself a suit, shaloon 
to Line it, Buttons, Silk, &c.," a "good strong black 
Silk Damask, or Lutestring Flowered (no silk Grass 
to be in it) To make two Jackets and two pair of 
Breeches," and "two pair of good black silk Mens 
Stockinets." He was also sendino^ to London for 
"Fring for the Fustian Bed the Worsted is for, and| 
also Frino- for half a doz. Chairs suitable thereto," 
and for a finer wedding outfit for his daughter Judith 
than could be bought in America. 

Great changes had taken place among the people. 
Winthrop and Endicott, and the great preachers. 
Hooker and Cotton and Norton, had passed away 
and new men had come to the front.-' 

The manners and tastes of the people had 
changed — especially in Boston and in the larger 
towns. In Roxbur}^^ "the more wealthy inhabitants 
kept one or more slaves and were enjoying the luxu- 
ries, as well as the comforts, of life at the time of the 
vacation of the Charter." 

"Everywhere," says Mr. Drake^ "the too rigid 
austerity of the social and religious life of the Puritan 
pioneers had given place to a freer and more un- 
restrained play of the social forces. Intemperance 
had greatly increased. Attendance at church had 
grown less constant. More costly dress and equi- 
page, and greater refinement of manners, began to 
be obsei-ved." 

^ Hooker died in 1647; Winthrop in 1649; Norton in 1663; and Endi- 
cott in 1665. 

^Hgnry H. Edes, Charlestoivn in the Colonial Period, i Mem. His- 
Boston, 400. 

^ Roxbury in the Colonial Period, i Mem. His. Boston, 401-422. 



THE ANDROS SEQUEL. 387 

Such was the situation when, on December 20, 1686, 
the King Fisher, a fifty-gun ship, reached Boston Har- 
bor, bringing the new governor. Sir Edmund Andros. 
lie had a commission as "Captain General and Gov- 
ernor in Chief" of all New England. Thirty-nine 
persons, of whom five might constitute a quorum, 
were appointed to act as his Council. One of these 
was the hated Randolph. In the governor and 
council were vested all legislative, judicial, and exec- 
utive powers, with full authority, subject only to 
revision by the king, of making laws, establishing 
courts and administerine: the o-overnment. 

The alarm of the colonists was allayed at first by 
the fair professions of Andros and his profuse expres- 
sions of a desire to administer the government for 
the benefit of the people; and, for a time, the colo- 
nists felicitated themselves that in the appointment of 
Andros they had escaped the dreaded butcher. Col. 
Kirk, whom the king had originally selected to act 
as governor. But they had escaped Charybdis onl}^ 
to be devoured b}^ Scylla. 

It was not long before Andros threw off all disguise 
and his designs became apparentt One of the first 
notable acts of the new administration was the lev}" 
of a tax to defray the expenses of the government. 
For protesting against this tax, John Wise, the min- 
ister of Ipswich, and several of the inhabitants of 
the town, were thrown into jail, denied the right of 
habeas corpus, and heavily fined, and several of 
them were forbidden to hold office. At the trial 
Joseph Dudley, one of the judges, taunted the de- 
fendants, when they endeavored to set up their priv- 



9 88 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

ileges as English subjects, by telling them that they 
had now no further privilege left than "not to be 
sold as slaves," and insolently asked them if they 
believed that "Joe and Tom may tell the king what 
money he may have." 

Fines and imprisonment were visited upon all who 
ventured to question the authority or to protest against 
the tyrannical proceedings of the new rulers. 

A few months after Andros arrived forcible pos- 
session was taken of the South Church for Episcopal 
services. 

The General Court was abolished and the town 
governments were ignored. Andros said to a com- 
mittee from Lynn that "there is no such thing as a 
town in the whole country." Even the assembling 
of the citizens for deliberation was liable to be pun- 
ished as riotous or seditious. 

Exorbitant fees were exacted. "The harpies 
themselves," says Hutchinson, "quarreled about 
their share of the prey." Taxes were levied by the 
governor and his council as they pleased, and the tax- 
gatherers were relentless in their exactions. Spies 
and informers were in every town. 

All court records were removed to Boston, so that 
those having business in relation to the settlement of 
estates were forced to go there, and were compelled 
sometimes to travel two hundred miles and to pay 
extortionate fees to the officers until "the cry of poor 
Widows and Fatherless is gone up to Heaven against 
them on this account."^ No one was secure in the 

^Revolution in New England yustijied,in Andros Tracts, Vol. i 
pp.115, "6- 



THE ANDROS SEQUEL. ^V^^ 

title to his land. When a land-owner showed a deed 
from the Indians he was told that it was "worth no 
more than the scratch of a bear's paw," and Ran- 
dolph, the chief spirit of the Andros administration,, 
boasted that "all the inhabitants of Boston will be 
forced to take new grants and confirmations of their 
lands, which will bring in vast profits," and he- 
threatened to issue writs of ejectment by the cart 
load. 

The judges appointed by Andros had been selected 
in the expectation that the}^ would prove themselves 
servile tools to aid him in his tyrannical efforts to 
strip the inhabitants of their libert}' and their propert}-. 
They rarely disappointed his expectations. If they 
followed any English precedents, they were those 
established by the infamous Jeffreys and Scroggs. 
Everywhere the courts were turned into engines of 
persecution. Many were ruined by enormous fines; 
others were imprisoned on vague charges, denied the 
writ of habeas corpus, and held for months without 
trial. 

Moreover, "as if to mock the people of New 
England," says Professor Washburn, a new great 
seal for the government was adopted showing on one 
side the royal arms with the inscription "Sigillvm 
Nov^ Anglle in America," a figure of James II 
seated and two figures kneeling before him, one 
tendering a petition, the other offering tribute, and 
having inscribed upon it also this insulting motto, 
''^ Nunquam Lib ertas g ratio r extaty^ 

* Washburn's yudicial History Mass., pp. 103-4; Thomas C. Amory, 
paper read before Mass. His. Soc. Proceedings Mass. His. Soc, 1S67— 



390 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

The royal bandits were holding high carnival. 
Massachusetts was still suffering from King Philip's 
war, which had entailed immense destruction of 
property and a frightful loss of life. Now she lay 
prostrate and helpless under the feet of her bitterest 
foes — foes dreaded far more than those whom the 
colonists had vanquished * for her new enemies 
seemed to be resolved upon robbing the people of 
all the possessions for which they had labored so 
hard, and of effacing every vestige of the institu- 
tions they had struggled so long to establish.^ 

The "emancipation" from Puritan control was 
going on at a great rate. The action of Cranfield, 
the royal governor of the neighboring province of 
New Hampshire, in sending the Rev. Mr. Moodey 
to jail for his refusal to administer the sacrament ac- 
cording to the liturgy of the established church, was 
a fair sample of the kind of religious toleration that 
the Puritans of Massachusetts might expect soon to 

1869, p. 98. The motto was garbled out of the following quotation from 
Claudianus: 

^''Fallitur egregio quisqiiis sub principe credit 

Servitium. Nunquam libertas gratior extat 

^uani sub rege pioP 
Translated in Ramage's Beautiful Thoughts from Latin Authors, 5th 
ed., p. 161, as follows: "That man is deceived who thinks it slavery to 
live under a noble prince. Liberty never appears in a more gracious 
form than under a pious prince." 

* Barry's His. of Mass., Vol. i, Chap. 18; Washburn's Judicial 
History of Mass.., Chap. 6. A complete history of the administration 
of Andros will be found in the Andros Tracts, published by the Prince 
Society. Included in the collection is a catalogue, prepared hy a com- 
mittee of seven, consisting of Thomas Danforth and six others, of the 
"charges against Andros and others." In this catalogue will be found 
a brief synopsis of the principal charges. The editor, Mr. Whitmore, 
^ives the committee "the credit of great industry in collecting all the 
fables as well as the truths against Andros's administration." 



THE ANDROS SEQUEL. 391 



be extended to them. Gloom enveloped the land, 
and, although the Puritans of the old commonwealth 
were men of stout hearts, it must have seemed to 
them that all had been lost. But all had not been 
lost. While Andros was at the hei«-ht of his 
power the people of England again rebelled against 
their monarch. In 16S9 news was brought over 
of the landing in England of the Prince of Orange, 
and the people of Massachusetts rose in arms, de- 
posed Andros, captured him while he was trying 
to escape, disguised in woman's clothes, put him 
and Randolph and Dudley in prison, set up a provis- 
ional government and, for a period of about five 
weeks, until the proclaiming of William and Mary, 
again enjoyed the privileges of self-government. 

Still the people of Massachusetts were a long way 
from independence. The new king of England, 
though far more in accord with the religious views of 
the people of Massachusetts than was his predecessor, 
had no idea of permitting them to set up a republic 
of their own. Other monarchs followed who viewed 
with jealous eyes the growth of republican ideas in 
America. In order to curtail the commerce of the 
colonies, and to cripple their industries, oppres- 
sive laws were enacted in England, of which the 
odious Acts of Trade and the still more odious Stamp 
Act were examples. The Boston Port Bill was en- 
acted avowedly to punish Massachusetts and to wipe 
out Boston. English soldiers were quartered on the 
people and a vain attempt was made to awe their 
representatives into subjection b}' surrounding the 
State-house with armed soldiers and planting cannon 



392 THE PURITAN REJf^UBLIC. 

to command its doors. The culmination of all these 
efforts to subdue the people of Massachusetts was 
seen at Lexington and Concord. 

But in all these years a republic was growing. In 
the beginning the colonists thought that liberty could 
not live without the charter; events proved that the 
charter had become as useless to liberty as the shell 
of the acorn is to the oak after it has struck its roots 
deep into the soil. When the time came to put forth 
the Declaration of Independence there were found 
reasons far more cogent than the violations of the 
charter, of which the people complained in the time 
of Charles II; a broader foundation was secured 
upon which to base a republic than any charter which 
had been granted by any English monarch. The 
republic which had been planted in the Massachusetts 
commonwealth had been further developed in the 
United Colonies of New England; it became of 
tougher grain under every effort of kings and parlia- 
ments to uproot it, until in the end it became part of 
the still greater republic — The United States of 
America. 



XVIII 

THE PASSING OF THE PURITANS— LOOKING 
BACKWARD AND ALSO LOOKING FORWARD 

"O Time, the fatal wrack of mortal things, 
That draws Oblivion's curtains over kings — 
Their sumptuous monuments men know them not, 
Their names Avithout a record are forgot, 
Their parts, their ports, their pomps, all laid i' the dust— 
Nor wit, nor gold, nor buildings, 'scape Time's rust. 
But he whose name is graved in the white stone, 
Shall last and shine when all of these are gone!" 

— Anne Bradstreet, 

It is to be hoped that Anne Bradstreet and her 
Puritan friends and neighbors have found the "white 
stone," and in it the "new name written," promised 
in the Book of Revelations. The names of many 
of them and their deeds on earth are deeply graven 
in human history. 

In recording the history of the Massachusetts Pur- 
itans there has been a great change in style from 
that of fulsome eulogy, characteristic of the early 
historians, to the unsparing censure of modern 
writers, notably of some in Massachusetts, whose 
cardinal idea seems to be that we magnify ourselves in 
proportion as we belittle our ancestors. In the writ- 
ings of this new school the history of the Puritan 
age in Massachusetts is delineated as a dreary waste. 
We look in vain for historic f^jjures. All have dis- 

(393) 



fc>' 



394 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

appeared or dwindled into insignificance, and in their 
places we find only an intolerant and narrow-minded 
set of fanatics. We search for heroic achievements 
and noble deeds; we find nothing worthy of note 
unless it be something to call forth denunciation or 
ridicule. The very age in which our Puritan an- 
cestors lived has been obliterated and we see only an 
*'ice age — sterile, forbidding, unproductive, its his- 
tory dotted only with boulders and stunted growth." 

After all has been said about the bigotry and in- 
tolerance of the Massachusetts Puritans, much re- 
mains to be said in their favor. 

It may be that if Winthrop and Endicott and their 
associates had never been heard of, and their places 
in the Massachusetts commonwealth had been filled 
by Roger Williams, Gorton, Coddington and the 
motley brood that flocked to the shores of Narragan- 
sett Ba}^, we should have had a grotesque conglomera- 
tion, that, for a time, might have assumed the sem- 
blance of a government, of which possibly the chief 
features might have been religious and political 
toleration; but it is probable that the discordant ele- 
ments would soon have resolved themselves into 
chaos. All this, however, is conjecture. The solid 
historical fact is that Winthrop, Endicott, and their 
Puritan associates, founded a commonwealth and 
held it together long enough to make it the corner- 
stone of the New England confederacy and the begin- 
ning of a great republic. 

The Puritans believed in morality in public and in 
private life. Undoubtedly their preachers preached 
long sermons and made long prayers. They required 



THE PASSING OF THE PURITANS. 305 

a rigid obsei-\'ancc of the Sabbath, and they did not 
concern themselves about making either their churches 
or their rehgion attractive. The unique methods of 
some of our modern preachers and the sensational 
performances carried on in some of our modern 
churches, as reported from time to time in the news- 
papers, show that in the effort to make churches 
popular and religion entertaining we have hit upon 
some schemes entirely unknown to our ancestors, 
and compel us to think more kindly of the old 
Puritan minister with his hour-glass, his long ser- 
mons and his long prayers. 

The Puritans also believed in education. The 
school-house was as characteristic a feature of every 
New England settlement as was the meeting-house. 
Their principles and practice were in striking con- 
trast to those of the royal governor of Virginia. In 
1670 the English Lords Commissioners of Planta- 
tions proposed to Sir William Berkeley, who was 
then governor of Virginia, a series of questions con- 
cerning the condition of affairs in his jurisdiction, to 
one of which that eminent apostle of ignorance 
made this remarkable answer: "But I thank God 
there are no free schools nor printing, and I hope 
we shall not have these hundred years, for learning 
has brought disobedience, and heresy, and sects into 
the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels 
against the best Government. God keep us from 
both."^ 

The Puritans were intense lovers of liberty and 
natural rebels against tyranny. As shown in former 

* Hening's Statutes, Vol. i, p. 517. 



V-* 



396 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

chapters, their first body of laws contained all the 
cardinal principles of Magna Charta and the common 
law of England for the protection of the liberty of 
the citizens and of the rights of property. 

They were economical in their ways of life. There 
were no great fortunes in those days in New Eng- 
land. None were then to be made by gigantic 
trusts and combinations, by wrecking railroads and 
watering stock and cornering wheat. Most of the 
early Puritans had large families; the soil was poor; 
and, to make both ends meet, they were compelled 
to be thrifty and frugal. But, if they did not spend 
great sums in gambling and horse-racing and cock- 
fighting, they were not stingy in providing comforta- 
ble houses for their families and barns for their stock, 
meeting-houses and school-houses, and a substantial 
education for their sons and daughters. 

They were economical also in their public expen- 
ditures. It might be well if some modern legislature 
would imitate — but it is useless to hope that any ever 
will imitate — the example of the General Court of 
Massachusetts in its declaration made in 1646: 

"We spend nothing superfluously in buildings, feasting, 
pensions, public gratuities, officers fees, or the like; nay we 
are ashamed sometimes at our parsimoniousness, but that 
fe had rather beare shame and blame than over burden the 
people. Such as are in chief office amongst us are content j 
to live beneath the power of their places, that they might 
ease the Common charge."^ 



But in the defense of their country the Puritans of 
Massachusetts were never niggard with their contribu- 

^ Hutchinson's Coll, of Papers^ p. 209. 



THE PASSING OF THE PURITANS. 397 

tions. Not only did they contribute liberally for their 
own defense in all the Indian wars during the common- 
wealth period, but they contributed more liberally 
than any other American colon}^ to the expenses of 
carr3ang on the Revolutionary War. Official statis- 
tics show that from the beginning of the revolution to 
1790 Massachusetts's excess of expenditures over re- 
ceipts in behalf of the general government was nearly 
equal to that of all four of the states of New York, 
Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland, and nearly 
ten times as much as Virginia, Maryland, North 
Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.* 

AVherever the Puritans went they impressed on 
the community the characteristics which made them 
a moral, law-abiding, liberty-loving and thrifty peo- 
ple. When General Putnam and his New England 
colony emigrated to the Northwest Territory and 
settled at INIarietta, they took their preacher and 
teacher along with them, and the first thing they 
did, after building a stockade to protect themselves 
from the Indians and houses to shelter their families, 
was to erect a building for a church and a school. 
They next framed a code of laws, and, as they had 
no printing press, the laws were published by nailing 
a copy of them to a tree on the banks of the Muskin- 
gum.^ Thus they grasped the essential principles of 
republican government: morality, education and 
obedience to law. They were doing this when the 
people of France were murdering their priests, hold- 
ing their drunken orgies in the churches, putting in 

* Hudson's Hist, of Marlborough, 185. 

* Walker's His. of Athens Co., Ohio, p. 86. 



398 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

the pulpits prostitutes costumed as Goddesses of 
Reason, and trying to establish a Utopian republic 
on the ruins of law, religion and the rights of prop- 
erty. 

Our laws and customs would not have fitted the 
Puritans any better than theirs would now fit us. 
And I imagine that, if the other side could be heard, 
and if we could listen to some of the accusations 
which the Puritans, if living, might justly bring 
against the people of this age, their laws and cus- 
toms, their public and private life, it would probably 
appear that, notwithstanding our great advance in 
some things, yet, in other things essential to good 
government, we have not improved so much on the 
ways of our ancestors as we are in the habit of tak- 
ing for granted. 

The old Puritans have passed away, and most of 
their kind have also passed away. ''The old order 
changeth, yielding place to new." Between the be- 
ginning and the end of the commonwealth great 
changes occurred in the religious, industrial and 
social life of the Puritan settlers of Massachusetts, 
noticeable especially in Boston and in the adjacent 
towns, but not so noticeable in Sudbury, Marlborough 
and the other frontier settlements. To-day, however, 
the changes from early times are manifest every- 
where, so manifest that no one can overlook them or 
fail to perceive their significance. 

Great manufactories now flourish in regions once 
devoted almost exclusively to agriculture. The peo- 
ple, native and foreign, are flocking to the cities and 
in the cities they are crowding the manufactories. 



THE PASSING OF THE PURITANS. 399 

Notable changes have taken place in the character 
of the population. One marked peculiarity of the 
early settlers of Massachusetts and the other parts of 
New England was, that, almost to a man, they were 
Englishmen or of English descent. Most of the first 
settlers came from the eastern and southern counties 
of England. It has been estimated that at the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth centur}' more than ninety- 
eight in one hundred of the New England people 
were of pure English descent.^ Jedidiah Morse pub- 
lished the 7th edition of his geography in 18 19, and 
in this, speaking of the New England population, he 
said: "The great mass of the inhabitants are of 
English origin. New England was settled entirely 
by Englishmen, except a few towns in the hilly 
country of the county of Hampshire in Massachu- 
setts, which were settled by a colony from Ireland, 
and a few in Londonderry in New Hampshire. With 
these exceptions, the settled inhabitants of New Eng- 
land are even now entirely of English origin."^ 

In an address before the Massachusetts Historical 
Society in 1844, Dr. Palfrey said:^ "With scarcely 
exceptions enough to deserve any account in the 
enumeration, we who now constitute the states of 
New England are descendants of Englishmen estab- 
lished here before the year 1643." 

But now New England is being rapidly filled with 
those of foreign birth and their descendants. The 
invasion is not as war-like, but it seems to be as cer- 

^ Fiske, Beginninfrs of N. E., 141. 

* Morse, Universal Geography, Vol. i, p. 211. 

'Mass. His. Coll., 3d Ser., Vol. 9, p. 178. 



400 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

tain and as irresistible as that of the fierce Goths and 
the fiercer Huns who stood at last before the gates of 
Rome. To-day, what the writer observed some 
years ago in Marlborough, Mass., is noticeable in 
many parts of that state, as well as in other places 
in New England. In early times the inhabitants of 
Marlborough were exclusively of English Puritan 
stock. Now the names of the Rices, the Brighams, 
the Bigelows, the Howes and others, once so num- 
erous there, must be sought in the inscriptions 
upon the tombstones, while in the streets, at every 
step, one meets the Canadian and the Irishman. 
What has become of the descendants of the first 
settlers? The stock has not run out. Those who 
left New England pushed forward to other regions, 
constituting the advance guard in the settlement of 
the states originally comprised within the limits of 
the great region known as the Northwest Territory, 
and forming no inconsiderable portion of the early 
settlers of New York and other states. They have 
largely helped to leaven the character of the nation. 
"The twenty-six thousand New Englanders of 1640," 
says Mr. Fiske,^ "have in two hundred and fifty 
years increased to something like fifteen million. 
From these men have come at least one-fourth of 
the present population of the United States."^ 

But, more striking than any other change, is that 
in the religious character of the people. In the time 
of the commonwealth it would have been accounted 

^ Beginnings of New England, 143. 

^ See chapter by Francis A. Walker on Growth and Distribution of 
Poptdation: First Century of Republic, p. 211. 



THE PASSING OF THE PURITANS. 40I 

sacrilege to read in church the Book of Common 
Prayer. Endicott had torn from the EngHsh flag the 
emblem of the cross because it was a symbol of 
Popery. But now, near the site of the old Puritan 
meeting-house in Marlborough, stands by far the 
most stately edifice in the town. Its spire overlooks 
the old Puritan cemcter}^ and casts its shadow across 
'the plain stones marking the places where rest those 
to whom, in life, nothing was more hateful than the 
doctrines now taught over their graves. It is almost 
needless to add that this edifice is a Roman Catholic 
cathedral. 

It is evident that the ''emancipation" of Massa- 
chusetts is still going on at a rapid rate. Without 
offering any criticisms or theories as to the cause of 
these changes, or their probable effect upon the gov- 
ernment, the laws, the customs, and the moral and 
social life of New England, Dr. Ellis has concisely 
summed up the present situation in these words: 
"We put the sum and substance, the facts and their 
import, of all the transformation that has been 
wrought there, in a single sentence when we say that 
men, principles, habits, and institutions have now 
the ascendancy in the Puritan heritage of which the 
fathers intended and hoped to have rid themselves 
and their posterity for all time."^ 

What will New Enjjland and Massachusetts be 
two hundred and fifty years hence, when rural New 
Ensfland shall have been deserted, when countless 
thousands yet to come from Canada and across the 

"^Puritan Age, 8. 
Pur. Rep. — 26 



402 THE PURITAN REPUBLIC. 

ocean shall have settled on the Merrimac, and 
when, as the Rev. Joseph Cook predicts, Plymouth 
Rock shall have become the corner-stone of a factory? 

**The Past at Least is Secure." 



THE end. 



INDEX 



Adains, Charles Francis: on the 
Hterature of the theologico-gla- 
cial period, 184. 

Address: issued by Puritan emi- 
grants from England to Amer- 
ica, 17. 

Agriculture: allotment of lands, 
131; fertility of soil, 131; do- 
mestic animals, 132 ; agricul- 
tural implements, 132 ; laws for 
benefit of farmers, 132, 133; 
inventory of a prosperous farm- 
er, 157. 

Ainsworth: version of Psalms, 110. 

Alden, John : wooing of Priscilla, 
163. 

Allegiance: oath of required, 37, 
854 ; colonists' idea of their al- 
legiance to England, 319,324; 
additional proof of, 328. 

Almanacs: early, 187. 

Amendments and Jeofails: re-en- 
actment of English statute of, 
51. 

Amsterdim: English Puritans at, 3. 

Amusements, Games, Etc. : laws 
against, 110; effect of absence 
of, 155. 

Andover: in King Philip's war, 92. 

jlnrfros, Edmund, Gov. : his arrival, 
387 ; powers given him and 
council, 387 ; his fair profes- 
sions, 387 ; his tyrannical rule, 
387 ; his judges, 389 ; changes 
the great seal, 389 ; deposed and 
imprisoned, 391. See Chap. 
XVIT, The Andros Sequel. 

Andros Sequel, The: Chap. XVII, 
pp. 383-392. 

^7i<mo}/ua« Controversy, 215 ; prev- 
alence of religious vagaries dur- 
ing this period, 248. 

Apparel: laws against extrava- 
gance in, 97 ; Ward's sermon 



(403) 



against female fashions, 99 ; de- 
bate between Roger Williams 
and John Cotton on women's 
veils, 100; punishment for 
wicked apparel, 101; recogni- 
tion of rank in laws regulating, 
128. 

Apprentices: to be kept employed, 
131 ; education of, 174. 

Aqnidneck: Ann Hutchinson goes 
to, 232. 

Articles of Confederation : of New 
England, 308. 

Assistants : first meeting in Amer- 
ica, 34; efforts to perpetuate 
their power, 35, 284; presided 
as magistrates, 04; struggle 
with deputies for a right to a 
negative vote, 288; action of 
on trial of Gorton, 292 ; vote to 
submit to demands of King 
Charles II, 378. 

Austin, Ann : invades the com- 
monwealth, 237. 

Banishment: for immoral conduct 
41 ; for heretical opinions, 41 
without any specific charge, 44 
Avhat crimes so punished by! 
57. 

Baptists: laws against, 200; doors 
of first meeting house nailed up 
by order of General Court, 204 ; 
persecution of, 235, 237; finally 
established a church in Boston, 
237 ; majority of people opposed 
to persecution of, 252 ; persecu- 
tion of in other colonies, 258, 
261. 

Barbadoes: trade with, 134. 

Bartholnmew, Rev. : at trial of 
Ann Hutchinson, 228. 

Batchelor, Rev. Stephen: attempt 
of General Court to compel him 



404 



INDEX. 



and his wife to live together, 
123. 

Bay Path, 108. 

Bay Psalm Book : used in church 
services, 170; its great popu- 
larity, 186. 

Becke, Alex.: gets damages of 
Joj'ce Bradwick for breach of 
promise, 124. 

Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward: an- 
ecdote by of introduction of 
stove in meeting-house in Litch- 
field, Ct., 166. 

Beginning, The, Chap. I, pp. 1-26. 

Beliingham, Gov. Richard: one of 
committee to draft code of laws, 
45, 46; a lawyer, 68. 

Bellingham, AVidow: Sewall's re- 
gret as to her case, 72. 

Bennett, Samuel: fined for speak- 
ing disrespectfully of the town, 
60. 

Berkeley, Gov.: As an apostle of 
ignorance, 395. 

Biblical Commonwealth: effort 
to evStabUsh, 193. 

Bigeloivs of Marlborough, 400. 

Bishop, : at trial of 

Ann Hutchinson, 227. 

Blackstone, William: Settlement 
at Shawmut, 25. 

Blackstone, Sir William: his be- 
lief in witchcraft, 63. 

Blasphemy : defined and punished, 
200, 204. 

Bhie Anchor Inn : at Boston, 107. 

Body of Liberties: adopted, 47; 
Rev. Nathaniel Ward's work in 
framing, 49 ; why so called, 49; 
principal provisions of, 49 ; con- 
tained essential provisions of 
Magna Charta, 63 : amendment 
of as to churches, 203. 

Books: private libraries, 175; cost 
of books, 177 ; governmental 
!tupervision over printing, 179; 
number and kind of early pub- 
lications, 179; the religious 
books, 188 ; comparison of the- 
ological and law books of the 
17th century, 191. See Chap. 
IX, Education, Books and Lit- 
erature. 

Book- Stores: in Boston in early 
times, 175. 



Boston: settlement of William 
Blackstone there, 25; streets 
not lighted until 1774, 95 ; dis- 
tinction between Ufe there and 
on the frontier, 145; book- 
stores in, 175; great fires in, 
378; growth during common- 
wealth period, 332, 384 ; changes 
in manners and tastes of peo- 
ple between beginning and end 
of commonwealth, 386, 398. 

Bradstreet, Anne: her poems, 181. i 

Bradstreet, Governor Simon : he 
and Norton sent as agents to 
England, 340; answer brought 
by them from Charles II to Gen- 
eral Court, 340. 

Bradioicke, Joyce: sued by Alex. 
Becke for breach of promise, 
124. 

Branding: what crimes punished 
by, 57. 

Brattle, Thomas : his coat of arms, 
129. 

Brenton: answer of General Court 
to, 308. 

Breioster, M. : the Quaker, 245. 

Brewster, Elder, residence at 
Scrooby, 1 ; member of Leyden 
congregation, 4 ; his library, 176. 

Bridgewater: in King Philip's war, 
92. 

Brighams: of Marlborough, 400. 

Brimsmead, Rev. : his learning, 
196. 

Brookfield, in King Philip's war, 
92. 

Brown, James: punished for 
drunkenness, 104. 

Brown, John: at Harper's Ferry, 
23. 

Browne, Samuel : a lawyer, 68. 

Brownes: banishment of, 210. 

Bulkeley, Richard: one of com- 
mittee to draft code of laws, 46 ; 
he and Stoughton sent as agents 
to England, 363 ; remain nearly 
three years, 364 ; their return, 
366. 

Bullivant, Dr. : a patron, 69. 

Burgess, Robert: presented for 
bad corn-grinding, 60. 

Burns, Robert: "The Cotter's Sat- 
urday Night," 160. 

Bussaker, Peter: punished for 
slighting the magistrates, 40. 



INDEX. 



405 



Cambridge : General Court of elec- 
tion held there, 218. 

Cambridge Platform: adopted, 251. 

Candles: in the time of common- 
wealth, 95. 

Camntchet, Chief: gathers war- 
riors in fort, 90 ; his escape, 91 : 
death and barbarity of his exe- 
cution, 89, 91. 

Capital Punif^hment: for what 
crimes, 50, 58 ; ba.sed on scrip- 
tural authority, 50, 57. 

Cards and Dice: prohibited, 110. 

Catholics: persecution of in Rhode 
Island, 265; in New York, 259. 

Chancery: courts of, 38. 

Charles I : his accession, 5 ; death, 
329. 

Charles II; message to Governor 
Endicott in behalf of the Quak- 
ers, 239; his dissolute reign, 
299, 377 ; ingratitude to old 
friends inEngland, 316; shame- 
ful treatment of Virginians, 317 ; 
his restoration, 337; address of 
General Court to, 338 ; another 
address, 340; failure to comply 
with his demands, 342; sends 
commissioners, 342; their re- 
ception by General Court, 343 ; 
its evasion of his demands, 343; 
General Court sends a petition 
to, 344; claim of governmental 
powers in, 344 ; Clarendon's re- 
ply, 345; treatment by General 
Court of those favoring compli- 
ance with his demands, 350; 
General Court makes present 
to him of load of ship masts, 
350; frivolous conduct while 
l)e Ruyter was blockading Lon- 
don, 357; his threat to annul 
the charter, 361 ; sends letter 
by Stoughton and Bulkeley to 
General Court, 366 ; continued 
failure of General Court to com- 
ply with his demands, 367 ; 
sends another letter, .368 ; again 
sends letter threatening annul- 
ment of charter, 368; sends 
Randolph with another letter, 
threatening a quo loarranto, 368 ; 
story of attempt of ]Massachu- 
setts authorities to bribe, 374; 
governor and assistants favor 
gubmitting to his demands, but 



deputies refuse, 378; more ad- 
dresses sent to, 378; his death, 
380. 
Charlestoicn: settlement of, 25; 
plan of town government, 273. 
Charter: (of governor and com- 
pany of the ^Massachusetts bay) ; 
procured, 16; transfer to Amer- 
ica, 16; question as to legality 
of transfer, 25 ; why prized by 
the colonists, 28, 321 ; proprie- 
tary rights granted by, 28 ; gov- 
ernmental powers conferred by, 
29 ; conferred on all inhabitants 
the liberties and immunities of 
Englishmen, 31, 242; jurisdic- 
tional territory left undefined, 
32 ; construction of it by the 
colonists, 33, 319, 325 ; conferred 
no authority to banish Quakers, 
242 ; effect of revo(!ation on the 
Theocracy, 253; colonists based 
claim of right to independent 
government upon, 318; demand 
of Privy Council for its produc- 
tion, 322 ; institution of first q^(0 
loarranto to annul, 323; further 
demand for return of, 323 ; why 
colonists did not ask for en- 
largement of charter powers, 
327 ; no authority in it for gov- 
ernmental powers exercised by 
colonists, 3.55 ; set^ond quo icar- 
ranto begun, .375; arguments of 
the elders against relinquishing, 
376; Robert Humphreys em- 
ployed to defend, 378; judgment 
and grounds of forfeiture, 379. 
8ee Chap. XV, XVI, The Strug- 
gle for Independence, etc. 

Checkly: a patron, ()9. 

Chelmsford: in King Philip's war. 
92. 

Child-Life: in commonwealth pe- 
riod, 158, 168. 

Child, Robert: petition of him 
and others to General Court, 
234 ; complaints in England 
against Massachusetts, 324. 

Children: See Child- Life ; Parents 
and Children. 

Christison, Wenlock : trial and 
sentence, 238, 239. 

Christmas: celebration of forbid- 
den, 109. 



406 



INDEX. 



Churches: laws compelling at- 
tendance upon church services, 
163, 205 ; the meeting-house, 
165; recognition of rank in 
seating the congregation, 166; 
the minister, 167 ; the tithing 
man's duties at, 168 ; how con- 
gregation summoned, 169; or- 
der of exercisevS, 169; instru- 
mental music, 170; hymn-books 
used, 170; taking up the collec- 
tion, 172; close of services, 172; 
provisions of Body of Liberties 
to, 202 ; care to see that churches 
vi^ere orthodox, 202 ; not allowed 
to call minister without consent 
of neighboring churches, 204; 
laws prohibiting disturbance of, 
204 ; only church members eli- 
gible to be commissioners of 
New England Confederation, 
309. See Meeting-Kouses ; Min- 
isters ; Puritan Sabbath ; Rise 
and Fall of Theocracy. 
Clarendon, Lord : reply to peti- 
tion of General Court, 345. 
Clark, John: punishment of, 235. 
Clay, Henry: reception by Qua- 
kers at Richmond, Indiana, 267. 
Clergy: see Ministers. 
Cobbett, Rev. John: expenses of 

his funeral, 127. 
Coddington, Gov. William: at 
trial of Ann Hutchinson, 229, 
231 ; banishment, 232 ; orders 
whipping of Gorton, 262; Gen- 
eral Court refuses to negotiate 
with, 308; answer to his request 
for admission of Rhode Island 
into New England confedera- 
tion, 308. 
Coggan, John : a patron, 69. 
Coggeshall, Gov. John: at trial 
of Ann Hutchinson, 227 ; ban- 
ishment, 232. 
Coke, John : his execution, 257. 

CoJbvrn, : at trial of Ann 

Hutchinson, 231. 
Commerce: with other countries, 
134; effect of expansion upon 
the theocracy, 252 ; increase of 
during commonwealth period, 
332, 384. 
Co7nmissioners, of King Charles 
II : sent to Massachusetts, 342 ; 
refusal of General Court to rec- 



ognize their authority, 347 ; at- 
tempt to hear appeals, 349; 
their recall, 350. 

Commissioners, of plantations : 
control of colonies vested in, 
322. 

Commissioners: for trial of small 
causes, 64, 275. 

Compact: signed in cabin of May- 
flower, 270. 

Concord: cemetery at, 126. 

Connecticut: Winthrop's criticism 
on submission of its form of 
government to vote of the peo- 
ple, 284 ; negotiations of for 
New England confederation, 
303, 304 ; character of early set- 
tlers, 304; difference between 
Connecticut and Massachusetts 
form of government, 304, 305 ; 
shyness about entering confed- 
eration, 305; dissensions with 
Massachusetts, 305; excellence 
of first constitution, 305; be- 
comes member of New England 
confederation, 307 ; towns and 
population at that time, 313; 
close of its colonial records, 314. 

Connecticut 'PsXh: 108. 

Constables: powers and duties, 
164, 275. 

Cook, Rev. Joseph : his predic- 
tion, 402. 

Cotton, Rev. John : one of a com- 
mittee to draft a code of laws, 
45; his "Moses, his Judicials," 
45 ; debate with Roger Williams 
on women's veils, 100 ; his rules 
for trading, 142; his "Spiritual 
Milk for American Babes," 
186; character of his writings, 
188, 189 ; quoted as authority in 
England, 192; had achieved 
distinction in England, 196; 
his learning and industry, 196 ; 
fugitive from England, 197; 
venei'ation of people for, 198 ; 
influence in the commonwealth, 
207 ; favored committing im- 
portant business to the elders, 
208 ; disputation with Roger 
Williams after latter's banish- 
ment, 212 ; impressed by teach- 
ings of Ann Hutchinson, 216; 
presence at her trial, 228 ; nar- 
row escape from condemnatiou 



INDEX. 



407 



as a horctie, 23.'?; finr.l^y re- 
stored to contidenee of his 
brother niinisters;, 22'0 ; zeal for 
persecution of Baptisits, 236; 
opposition to democracy, 282 ; 
favored a theocracy, 282; fa- 
vored electing magistrates for 
life, 282. 

CounrU for New England : grant 
by of land to Massachusetts 
Company, 15 ; its failure to plant 
a colony in America, 15. 

Council of Foreign Plantations: 
organization, 33i). 

Cou)t/.ies: organization, 281. 

County Courts : organization, 64. 

Court of Assistants. See Assist- 
ants. 

Courts (of commonwealth) : no 
provision for in charter, 38 ; all 
judicial power at first exercised 
by General Court, 38; various 
couits afterwards established, 
38 ; rules for administering jus- 
tice in absence of laws, 43 ; 
adoption of English statute of 
amendments and jeofails, 51 ; 
forms of judicial proceedings 
and writs, 65 ; Lechford's ac- 
count of tiie couits in the early 
commonwealth period, 65; {)ro- 
vision allowing jurors to consult 
ministers, 65 ; records of judg- 
ments required to be kept, 66; 
litigants and attorneys fined for 
sj^eaking over one hour, 74; 
process in name of common- 
wealth, 354; records removed 
to Boston under Andros, 388. 
.See Puritan Laws, etc.; Law- 
yers. 

Courts (English): in time of 
Charles I, 1, 7. 

Courtship : opportunities for, 111 ;* 
Judge Sewall's courtships, 113; 
none allowed on Saturday 
night, 163. 

Craddock, Gov. : directed by com- 
missioners of plantations to 
produce charter, 322. 

Crandall, John : punishment of, 
235. 

Cranfield, Gov. : concocts story of 
attempt to bribe the king, 374; 
persecution of Rev. ^loodey, 
391. 



Crimes: punishment for, 5G. 

Cromwell, Oliver: attem])t to es- 
cape from England, '.); attitude 
of commonwealth to, 320, 324 ; 
letter to from General Court, 
330; colonists not willing that 
he should rule over them, 331 ; 
steadfast friend of the com- 
monwealth, 331 ; its prosperity 
during his time, 332; position 
of England under his rule, 357. 

Cnrreiicij: scarcity of money, 134 ; 
wampum currency, 135; mus- 
ket balls, 135 ; corn and other 
commodities, 136 ; establishment 
of mint, 136 ; pine tree shillings, 
137 ; no banks nor "fiafmoney, 
137. 

Dancing: not favored, 110. 

Davenport, Justice: Sewall's ad- 
vice to, 72. 

Davenport, Rev. : quoted as au- 
thority in England, 192. 

Declaration of Independence : rea- 
sons for did not exist in early 
commonwealth period,315; sub- 
sequent reasons, 317. 

Deerfield: in King Philip's war, 
92; meeting-house at, 166, 167. 

Delaivare : laws agamst witch- 
craft, 63. 

Democrac'i: clergy against, 282. 
See Chap. XIII, " How the Re- 
public Grew," etc. 

Dennison, Widow: courtship of 
by Judge Sewall, 114. 

Deputies : first election of to Gen- 
eral Court, 285; clashing be- 
tween them and assistants, 287 ; 
finally sit as separate body, 289 ; 
in closer touch with the people, 
292; action at trial of Gorton, 
292 ; vote not to submit to de- 
mands of King Charles II, 378. 

De Buyter, Admiral : blockade of 
London, 356. 

Descents: statute of, 54. 

Dexter, : Endicott fined 

for assaulting, 59. 

Dexter, Thomas: punished for 
speaking disrespectfully of the 
government, 39. 

Disfrancfiispment: what crimes 
punished by, 57. 



4o8 



INDEX. 



Dissenting Faiths : rapid increase 
of, 248. 

Divorce: for what cause allowed, 
55. 

Doctors: punishment of quacks, 
124. 

Domestic a.n6. Social Life: Chap.V, 
pp. 94-129; large families, 94; 
dwelling-houses, 94; apparel, 
97 ; food and drink, 103, tobac- 
co, 104; inns and ordinaries, 
105: roads and travel, 108; pub- 
lic days, holidays, etc., 109; 
amusements, games, etc., 110; 
courtship and marriage, 111; 
doctors, 124; funerals, 124; 
rank, 127. 

Dorchester: early settlement, 25 ; 
the plan of local government, 
273. 

Downing, : one of com- 
mittee to transcribe copy of 
laws, 47. 

Dudley, Joseph: asks permission 
for his son to call on Judge 
Sewall's daughter, 113 ; he and 
Eichards sent as agents to 
England, 369; their advice to 
General Court, 373 ; additional 
instructions to, 373 ; president 
of the provisional government, 
383 ; his insulting taunts to Rev. 
Wise and others upon their trial 
before him, 387; imprisoned, 
391. 

Dwd/e?/, Gov. Thomas: his account 
of tiie Puritan emigration from 
England to America, 13; one 
of committee to frame code of 
laws, 45 ; verses found in pock- 
et at his death, 184; at trial of 
Ann Hutchinson, 224, 227. 

Dudley, Col. William: his father 
asks permission for him to call 
on Judge Sewall's daughter 
Judith, 113. 

Dnnster, Henry: degradation of, 
237. 

Dunton, ' John : praise of land- 
lord of Blue Anchor Inn, 107 ; 
visits Cotton Mather, 175. 

Dutch: condition of Puritans 
among, 3; war with England, 
356; peace declared, 359. 

JhoeUing-Houses : construction, 94 ; 
how heated and lighted, 95; 



oiled paper in windows, 95 ; the 
kitchen, 95 ; furniture, 96. 

Fames, Thomas: destruction of 
his house by Indians, 78; in- 
ventory of his property, 157. 

Ears, cutting off: what crimes 
punished by, 56. 

Eaton, Gov. Theophilus: answer 
of General Court to, 307. 

Ecclesiastios: danger of vesting 
unlimited power in, 209. 

Education: first care of frontier 
settlements, 159 ; early laws for 
education of children and ap- 
prentices, 174; only orthodox 
teachers employed, 174 ; begin- 
ning of Harvard College, 174. 
See Chap. IX, Education, Books 
and Literature. 

Education, Books and Literature : 
Chap. IX, pp. 174-192. 

Edwards, Rev. Jonathan: effect 
of his sermons on his hearers, 
194. 

El ection Days : 110. 

Elections: law against stuffing the 
ballot-box, 52; election days, 
110. 

Eliot, Rev. John: efforts to con- 
vert Indians, 78; at trial of 
Ann Hutchinson, 224, 266, 
230; his "Christian Common- 
wealth," 338; censured for its 
seditious teachings, 339. 

Emancipation: of Massachusetts 
from Puritan control, 390, 401. 

Emmanuel College: colonists who 
came from, 196. 

Endicott, Gov. John : leads col-^ 
ony of Puritans to America, 15, 
17 ; one of grantees of council 
for New England, 17; his char- 
acter, 21 ; one of the commit- 
tee to transcribe code of laws, 
47 ; fined for assault on Dexter, 
59 ; protests against men wear- 
ing long hair, 102; opposes 
Vane, 218; at trial of Ann 
Hutchinson, 227, 228; at trial 
of Clark, Crandall and Holmes, 
236 ; at trial of Wen lock Chris- 
tison, 239; releases the Quaker- 
prisoners, 239; death, 3S!i; his 
influence in founding the com- 
monwealth, 394. 



INDEX. 



409 



England: perpocntion of Puritans 
in, 2, 5 ; Eno;lisli courts and 
jad<:es in reitrn of (^liarles I, 7; 
inhuman puuishuients of Puri- 
tans there, 8; difficulties in es- 
caping from, 8; local govern- 
ment in, 209 ; under the reign 
of the "IMerry Monarch," 299, 
357 ; beginning of trouble be- 
tween England and colonists, 
322; their claims as to their re- 
lation to, 325 ; lull in efforts to 
subdue in reign of Charles II, 
356 ; war with Dutch and degra- 
dation under, 356; peace de- 
clared with Dutch, 359 ; tyran- 
nical course of English rulers 
toward American colonies, 391. 

Evening at Home : on the frontier, 
153. 

Excommunicated Persons: law as 
to, 42. 

Extortion: laws against, 139, 140. 

Extravagance: in building and 
furnishing houses discouraged, 
96; also in apparel, 97. 

Fairbanks, Jonas, charged with 
"great-boots," 101. 

Fairbanks, Kichard: appointed 
postmaster, 39. 

Families: large, 94. 

Familists: their doctrines, 240. 

Family Arms : use of, 129. 

Fanaticism: difficulty in defining, 
263. 

Fast-days : 109. 

Fees: extortionate charged under 
Andros, 388. 

Fiat Money . none in common- 
wealth period, 137. 

Fidelity: oath required, 37. 

Finch, Katherine: punished for 
speaking disrespectfully of 
churches and ministers, 40. 

Fines: what crimes punished by, 
57 ; excessive under Andros, 
389. 

Fisher, Mary: invades Massachu- 
setts, 237. 

Fishing: as an industry, 133. 

Food and Drink: thanksgiving 
dinners, 103. See Intemper- 
ance. 

Foreigners: rights of, 50; influx 
into Massachusetts, 399. 



Forts: establishment of, 140. 

Foster, John : the first Boston 
printer, 179. 

Foster, William: requested to 
leave colony, 41. 

Fox, George: throws England 
into a tumult, 237. 

Freemen: required to take oath of 
allegiance, 31 ; first new free- 
men admitted, 35 ; resume pow- 
ers granted by charter, 36; 
right of suffrage restricted to, 
36; none but church members 
admitted, 36, 199. 

Frontier Life : Chap. VII, pp. 145- 
159 ; permission of General 
Court required to establish set- 
tlements, 146 ; establishing 
boundaries, 147 ; purchase of 
Indian title, 147; allotment of 
lands, 147 ; effect of proximity 
to the Indians, 148, 151 ; indus- 
tries in, 153; "an evening at 
home" on the frontier, 153; 
how settlers relieved monotony 
of work, 155; prosperity of 
frontier settlements prior to 
King Philip's war, 150. 

Fugitive Slave Law: first in 
America, 311. 

Fugitives from Justice and Serv- 
ice: provisions of articles of 
confederation as to, 311. 

Funerals: how conducted, 124; 
early burying grounds, 125; 
monuments and tombstones, 
126; giving presents at, 126; 
laws to restrain extravagance 
of, 127. 

Gainsborough: congregation of 
Puritans at, 3. 

Garrison Houses : establishment 
of, 149. 

Garnson, William Lloyd: perse- 
cution of, 264 

General Court: meetings of, 29; 
powers assumed by it, 38 ; mat- 
ters first attended to, 39 ; how 
it enforced respect for its au- 
thority, 39 ; exercise of author- 
ity over lands, 54; holds a ses- 
sion at Newtown, 249; last 
meeting, 383. 

Gibbs,Wido\v : courtship and mar- 
riage of by Judge Sewall, 120. 



4IO 



INDEX. 



GooJdn, Daniel: his "Historical 
Collections of the Indians in 
New England," 180; "Histori- 
cal Account of the Doings and 
Sufferings of the Christian In- 
dians in New England," 180; 
"History of New England," 
181 ; banishment from Virginia, 
261. 

Gorges, Ferdinando : complaints 
of him and Mason, 359; the 
king writes concerning, 361 ; 
English judges decide in favor 
of claims of his heirs to Prov- 
ince of Maine, 363. 

Gorton, Samuel : his contentious 
disposition, 234 ; his experience 
in Plymouth, Rhode Island and 
Providence, 262 ; his trial, 292; 
complaints of him and others 
in England, 324, failure of 
complaints there, 329. 

Governor: his powers under the 
charter, 34. 

Government: establishing seat of, 
34 ; progress in making during 
first ten years, 42. See Chap. 
XI, Making a Government. 

Grant, Gen. Ulysses : banishment 
of Jews from his department, 
23. 

Great Seal : See Seal. 

Grey Hound Inn: at Roxbury, 
107. 

Groton: in King Philip's war, 
92. 

Hadley: in King Philip's war, 
92. 

Hampton: Quakers at, 244. 

IlarlaJcenden, Rev. : on trial of 
Ann Hutchinson, 226. 

Harvard College: students give 
offense by wearing long hair, 
102; beginning, 175. 

Hatfield: in King Philip's war, 
92. 

Ilauthorne, Will : one of commit- 
tee to draft and copy code of 
laws, 46. 

Haynes, Gov. John : one of com- 
mittee to draft code of laws, 45 ; 
confers concerning New Eng- 
land confederation, 305, 306; 
answer of General Court to, 
307. 



Heresy: defined and punished, 

201. 

Heives, William: fined for derid- 
ing the singing and preaching 
in church, 60. 

Higginson, Francis: his "New 
England's Plantation," 181. 

High Commission of England : its 
tyranny, 7. 

Hingham: meeting-house at, 165; 
controversy over train-band, 
290. 

Holidays: English holidays for- 
bidden, 109. 

Holland: emigration of Puritans 
to from England, 3 ; settlement 
at Amsterdam and Leyden, 3 ; 
condition there, 3. 

Holmes, Rev. Obadiah: punish- 
ment of, 235. 

Hooker, Rev. Thomas: his writ- 
ings, 189; quoted as authority 
in England, 192; had achieved 
distinction there, 196; fugitive 
from there, 197; affection of 
his congregation and venera- 
tion of people for him, 198; liig 
influence in Connecticut, 207; 
AVinthrop's letter to, 284 ; con- 
fers as to New England confed- 
eration, 291 ; his death, 386. 

Hopkins: answer of General Court 
to, 307. 

Hopper, Isaac T. : persecution of 
by Quakers for his abolition 
views, 267. 

Horton, Elizabeth : the Quaker at 
Cambridge, 245. 

House-raisings: on the frontier, 
156. 

Hotoe, Beulah : her marriage por- 
tion, 122. 

Howe, Col. Thomas: his bond as 
inn-keeper at Marlborough, 106. 

Howe, Col. Samuel : recommended 
for inn-keeper at Sudbury, 107. 

Howes: of Marlborough, 400. 

Hull, John : his daughter's mar- 
riage portion, 120; master of 
the mint, 137. 

Humphreys, Robert: employed to 
defend quo loarranto proceed- 
ings, 378. 

Hunting Parties : on the frontier, 
156. 



INDEX. 



411 



JTushand and wifo: husband's au- 
thority over wife, 55; attempt 
of General Court to make a hus- 
band and wife live together, 
123. See Marriage. 

Hutchinson, Ann: her arrival in 
America, 215 ; teachings of her- 
self and of her disciples, 215; 
Wheelright and Vane become 
converts, 21(i; John Cotton also 
much impressed, 216 ; effect of 
her teachings, 217; proceedings 
at her trial, 224; her banish- 
ment, 231 ; her subsequent fate, 
232. 

Hutfhinson, Francis: banished for 
religious opinions, 41. 

U'lmn-books: those in early use, 
170. 

Idleness: laws to discourage, 130, 
131. 

Independence: beginning of colo- 
nists' idea of an independent 
government, 315 ; when idea 
first took definite shape, 318; 
what grounds for existed in 
reign of Charles 11,351; oppo- 
sition to English claim of right 
of taxation, 356, 365; on what 
grounds colonists based their 
claims, 362. See The Struggle 
for Independence, Chaps. XV, 
XVI. 

Indiana : persecution of abolition- 
ists in by the Quakers, 265. 

Indians: plague among, 77; had 
no semblance of organized gov- 
ernment, 77 ; their title to land 
recognized, 77, 147 ; appetite 
for intoxicating liquor, 78; ef- 
forts to civilize and convert, 78; 
troubles and war with Pequots, 
79 ; respective claims of Indians 
and colonists, 82; appearance 
of King Philip, his trharacter 
and ability, 84 ; betrinning and 
progress of King Philip's war, 
87 ; effects of the war, 88 ; In- 
dian currency, 135; effect of 
proximity to upon frontier life, 
148, 152 ; restrained from pro- 
faning the Lord's Day, 164. See 
Ciiap. Ill, The Puritans and 
the Indians. 



Indnsti'ial and Commercial Life: 
Chap. VI, pp. 130-144; laws 
against idleness, 130; agricul- 
ture, 131 ; fishing, 133 ; me- 
chanical trades, 133; manufac- 
tures, 133 ; commerce with other 
colonies and countries, 134; 
currency, 134 ; wages and prices, 
138. 

Lins and Ordinaries : as news cen- 
ters, 105; governmental super- 
vision over, 105; celebrated col- 
onial inns, 107 ; inn-keepers re- 
quired to clear their houses of 
all persons able to go to church 
during the services, 164 ; toward 
close of commonwealth, 386. 

Intemperance: increase in and 
laws against, 104. 

Iron: manufacture of, 133. 

Jacob,Ok\ : the praying Indian, 78. 

James I : death, 5. 

James II: judges in reign of, 7; 
his accession, 380. 

Jefferson, Thomas : tribute to New 
England town system, 280. 

Jeffreijs, Judge: in reign of 
James II, 8. 

Jennison, AVilliam: at trial of 
Ann Hutchinson, 231. 

Johnson, Edv.'ard: his ""Wonder- 
Working Providence," 180. 

Jossebjn, John: his "New Eng- 
land Rarities " and " Two Voy- 
ages," 181. 

Judges, of Commonwealth: lack 
of legal learning, 70; in the 
witchcraft trials, 71 ; conse- 
quences of, 74; subserviency 
under Andros, 389. Sec Chap. 
Ill, Puritan Laws, Lawyers and 
Courts. 

Judqes, of England: in reign of 
Charles I, 7. 

Judicial Powers: see Courts, 
Judges, Puritan Laws, etc. 

Juries : right of trial by secured 
by Body of Lil)erties, 50; pro- 
vision enal)liiig them to consult 
the ministers, Ho. 

Justices of the Peace: how ap- 
pointed, 64. 

Juvenile Literature : none in com- 
monwealth period, 186. 



412 



INDEX. 



Junkfis, Epter: presented for wear- 
ing silver lace, 60. 

Keayne, Capt. Robert: his trial 
for extortion, 140; his law-suit 
with Mrs. Sherman, 288. 

Kentland, Nathaniel: he and 
others fined for drinking Wm, 
Craft's "sider," etc., 60. 

Kimble, Capt. : punished for kiss- 
ing his wife on Sunday, 165. 

Kirk, Col. : intended as first gov- 
ernor instead of Andros, 387. 

Kitchen': a prominent feature in 
dwelling-houses, 95 ; in the 
frontier houses, 153. 

Knopp, Nicholas : fined for quack- 
ery, 124. 

Lancaster: in King Philip's war, 
92. 

Lands: tenure of, 53 ; Indian title 
recognized, 53 ; authority of 
General Court over, 54 ; towns 
authorized to dispose of, 54; 
how allotted, 147 ; land titles 
under Andros, 389. 

Land, Archbishop: his persecu- 
tion of the Puritans, 5; his 
character, 6 ; head of Commis- 
sioners for Plantations, 305; 
his execution, 257. 

Law - Books : in commonwealth 
period, 66; Sewall's, 71. 

Laio s : inconveniences resulting 
from absence of code of, 43, 44 ; 
effort to establish a code, 44; 
adoption of Body of Liberties, 
47 ; study of essential to under- 
standing history of common- 
wealth, 48; explanation of de- 
lay in adopting, 48 ; revisions 
of 1649, 1660 and 1672, 52 ; Whit- 
more's edition of Colonial Laws, 
52 (note) ; various provisions of, 
52; penalties for violation, 56; 
enforced rigidly and impartial- 
ly, 58 ; examples of early laws 
and punishments, 59; exten- 
sive scope of legislation, 59; 
great number of local officers 
required to execute, 60; how 
these old laws should be judged, 
61 ; compared with early laws 
of England and of other Ameri- 
can colonies, 62 ; law-books, 66 ; 



enacted in name of General 
Court and " by authority there- 
of," 354. See Chap. Ill, Puri- 
tan Laws, etc., Body of Liber- 
ties, Lawyers. 

Lawyers: in commonwealth peri- 
od, 66 ; professional ignored, 67 ; 
legal documents drawn by jus- 
tices and ministers, 68; no feea 
allowed, 68; prejudice against, 
68 ; ineligible to seat in Gen- 
eral Court, 69 ; patrons sub- 
stitutes for, 69; Lechford's at- 
tempt to practice, 69 ; no devel- 
opment of law as a science, 74 ; 
evil results of want of learned 
lawj^ers and judges, 74; ab- 
sence of influence of lawyers in 
restraining the Theocracy, 74 ; 
conservative tendency of the 
legal profession, 75. See Chap. 
Ill, Puritan Laws, etc. 

Laying the Foundations of a 
Greater Republic— The United 
Colonies of New England, Chap. 
XIY, pp. 301-314. See United 
Colonies, etc. 

Lechford, Thomas: attempt to 
practice law, 69. 

Legal Processes : ran in name of 
commonwealth, 354. 

Legislative Powers: exercise of 
by General Court, 38. 

Leverett, Gov. John : ominous tid- 
ings sent by him from England, 
337 ; his treatment of Randolph 
when latter brought a letter 
from the king, 361. 

Leverett, Rev. Thomas: at trial of 
Ann Hutchinson, 227, 228. 

Leyden Congregation : emigration 
to Plymouth, 4. 

Libel and Slander: punishment 
of, 51. 

Liberties: see Body of Liberties. 

Libraries: private, 175: Cotton 
Mather's, 175; John Win- 
throp's, 176; Elder Brewster's, 
176 ; Judge Sewall's books, 177. 

Lite hfi e I d, Ct. : introduction of 
stoves in meeting-house, 166. 

Literature, in commonwealth pe- 
riod: publications of that pe- 
riod, 179; poetry, 181; juvenile 
literature, 186; almanacs, 1; 7; 
character of religious books, 



INDEX. 



413 



188; early religions and law 
books compared, 191. See Chap. 
VIIT, Edncation, Books and 
Literature. 

Local Government : idea of promi- 
nent in American frovernment, 
2G9, 272; existence in Eng- 
land and in Germanic tribes, 
269; development in New Eng- 
land, 269, 272; the Dorchester 
plan, 273; the Charlestown 
phin, 273; adhered to in arti- 
cles of New P^ngland confedera- 
tion, 311. See Chap. XII, Lay- 
ing the Foundations, etc.. 
Towns. 

London: plague in, 356 ; great fire, 
356; its charter declared for- 
feited, 377. 

Long Hair: protests and laws 
against, 102. 

Long Parliament : attitude of com- 
monwealth to, 324 ; General 
Court's remonstrance to, 328 ; 
threatened demand by for sur- 
render of charter, 330; protests 
of General Court to, 330. 

Lothrop: death at Bloody Brook, 
88. 

Love, John : given order for books 
by Judge Sewall, 177. 

ioto Countries : see Holland. 

Ludloio, Roger: John Stone pun- 
ished for abusing him, 40. 

Lynn: early settlement, 25; ex- 
tracts from early court records 
of, 59; iron works established 
there, 133. 

Mail System : beginning, 39. 

Maine: why left out of New Eng- 
land confederation, 307; Gen- 
eral Court overturns courts es- 
tablished there by the royal 
commissioners, 350 ; English 
judges decide in favor of claims 
of Gorges's heirs, 363; pur- 
chase of by Massachusetts, 364. 

Makepeace, Thomas : infer med 
that General Court was weary 
of his "novile disposition," 41. 

Making a Government: Chap II, 
pp. 27-47 ; founded on cliarter, 
27; proprietary rights granted 
by charter, 28 ; governmental 
powers, 29 ; implied powers, 32 ; 



sovereign control not relin- 
quished, 32; powers claimed by 
colonists, 33 ; establishing a seat 
of government, 34; admission 
of new freemen, 35 ; restoration, 
of suffrage to freemen, 36 ; oaths 
of fidelity and allegiance, 36; 
exercise of legislative power, 
38 ; establishment of courts, 38 ; 
exercise of taxing power, 38 ; 
military measures, 38; other 
steps taken to establish a gov- 
ernment, 39; enforcing respect 
for government, 39 ; surveil- 
lance over strangers, 41 ; banish- 
ment fur immoral conduct and 
heretical opinions, 41 ; progress 
made in first ten years in es- 
tablishing, 42; evils resulting 
from absence of a code of laws, 
43; efforts to establish a code, 
44 ; Body of Liberties adopted, 
47. See Charter. 

Mahlen: church at fined, 204. 

Manners: change in those of peo- 
ple of commonwealth, 386. 

Manufactures: progress of, 133. 

Marblehead: Avomen of in King 
Philip's war, 90. 

Marietta (Ohio) : settled by de- 
scendants of the Puritans, 159; 
establishment of schools, 
churches and laws there, 397. 

Marlborough: in King Philip's 
war, 92, 151 ; changes in, 318, 
400, 401. 

Marriage: laws as to. 111; mar- 
riage etiquette, 113; marriage 
portions and bridal outfits, 120 ; 
attempt of General Court to 
compel husband and wife to 
stick to each other, 123 ; suits 
for breach of promise, 124. See 
Courtship, Divorce, Husband 
and Wife. 

Martin, Ambros: punished for 
speaking disrespectfully of the 
churches and ministers, 40. 

Maryland: laws against witch- 
craft, 63 ; trade of Massachu- 
setts with, 134; persecution of 
Quakers in, 258; religious per- 
secution in, 259. 

Mason, Capt. John: commands 
Connecticut troops in Pequot 



414 



INDEX. 



war, 80; his "History of the 
Pequot War," 180. 

Mason, Robert: complaints of 
him and Gorges, 359 ; the king 
writes concerning, 361 ; En- 
glish judges decide against his 
claim to New Hampshire, 368. 

Massachusetts: character of first 
settlers, 19 ; negotiations for es- 
tablishing New England con- 
federation, 304, 306 ; admission 
into, 307 ; towns and popula- 
tion at that time, 313; changes 
in between beginning and end 
of commonwealth, 383; con- 
tribution to expenses of revolu- 
tionary war, 397; changes in 
since end of commonwealth, 
383, 398 ; emancipation of still 
going on, 401. 

Massachusetts Company : charter 
incorporating, 16. 

Massasoit, Chief: father of King 
Philip and friend of the colo- 
nists, 86. 

Mather, Rev. Cotton : his library, 
175; his'^Magnalia," 175; eulo- 
gizes Anne Bradstreet's Poems, 
182; effect of his sermons on 
Betty Sewall, 195. 

Mather, Rev. Increase: a prolific 
writer, 179, 188 ; had achieved 
distinction in England, 196; 
influence over the Theocracy, 
208 ; foremost in opposition to 
Andros, 254. 

Maverick, Samuel : settlement on 
Noddles' Island, 25; petition of 
him and others to the General 
Court, 234; one of the commis- 
sioners sent by Charles II, 342. 

May-Days: celebration of prohib- 
ited, 109. 

Mayfiower: compact signed in 
cabin of, 270. 

Mechanical Trades : in early pe- 
riod, 133 ; few artisans in fron- 
tier settlements, 152. 

Meclfield: in King Philip's war, 
92. 

Meeting-ITouses : construction, 165 ; 
how heated, 165; interior ar- 
rangement, 166. See Churches ; 
Ministers. 

Military Establishment : early 
military measures, 38; promi- 



nent feature in frontier life, 
14H; organization of militia, 
148 ; forts and garrison-hou^ts, 
149 ; military watches and sen- 
tinels, 150; training fields and 
muster-days, 150. 

Militia: See Military Establish- 
ment. 

Mills: early introduction, 138. 

Ministers: enforcing respect for, 
40 ; legal documents drawn by, 
68 ; visiting, 107 ; learning and 
industry, 188, 192, 196; great 
influence of their books and 
sermons, 192 ; fearless disposi- 
tion, 197 ; religious views in ac- 
cord with those of first settlers, 
197 ; great affection between 
them and the members of 
their congregations, 197; first 
care of colonists to provide 
for, 198; none but orthodox 
called, 204; power to exclude 
from church membership, £07 ; 
great influence of, 207 ; power 
in General Court and else- 
where, 208 ; recognition of their 
power by civil authorities, 209 ; 
charge that they encouraged 
belief in witchcraft, 253 ; stead- 
fast champions of people against 
tyranny of English rulers, 254 ; 
define nature oi colonists' alle- 
giance to England, 326; argu- 
ments against relinquishing the 
charter, 376. See Chap. VIII, 
The Puritan Sabbath ; Churches ; 
Meeting-houses ; Sabbath ; The- 
ocracy. 

Mint: establishment, 136. 

Moderator: presiding officer of 
both church and town meetings, 
272 ; duties of moderator of 
town meetings, 276. 

Monck, George: landlord of the 
Blue Anchor Inn, 107. 

Money: See Currency. 

Monopolies : forbidden, 51. 

Moodey, Rev. : persecution of by 
Gov. Cranfield, 390. 

Morion, Thomas : a lawyer, 68. 

Mothers: Puritan, 187. 

Music: instrumental in churches, 
170. 

Muster Days: in early period, 150, 
155. 



INDEX. 



415 



Mystic: settlement, 26. 

Ifarrac/ansptta: i-idewith colonists 
in Peqiiot war, 80; troubles 
with, 82; annihilated in King 
Philip's war, 93. 

H^avigation Acts: of 1651, a dead 
letter in Massachusetts in Crom- 
well's time, 332; of ItiUO and 
1603, 339; ignored by Massa- 
chusetts commonwealth, 354; 
act of 1674, 359. 

Neglectors of Families: punish- 
ment, 130. 

Ifeicbunj : conduct of Quakers at, 
244. 

JV^e?c England: English origin of 
first settlers, 19; idea of local 
government in, 209; town sys- 
tem in, 269 ; confederation, 301 ; 

Heio England Primer: great cir- 
culation and influence, 186. 

J^eio Hampshire: province of es- 
tablished, 303. 

JVew Haven: admission into New 
England Confederation, 307; 
towns and population at that 
time, 313 ; absorbed in Connec- 
ticut, 314. 

Newhoxise, Thomas : the Quaker 
at Boston, 245. 

Neictotcn: establishing Harvard 
College there, 175; General 
Court held a session there, 218; 
synod there, 240. 

Ifeto Yor/c: trade with, 134; laws 
against Catholics, 259 ; troubles 
between Dutch governor of, 
and Connecticut, 'SOU. 

Night-watchmen : of towns, duties, 
275. 

Noddles' Island: settlement of 
Samuel Maverick at, 25. 

Noon-honses : connected with 
churches, 171. 

Norman, Samuel: punished for 
speaking disrespectfully of the 
ministers, 40. 

Northampton: women of ar- 
raigned for wicked apparel, 101. 

iVbr«A'it'W.-in King Philip's war,92. 

Norton, Rev. John: Fiske's esti- 
mate of, 21 ; expenses of funeral 
of his widow, 126; eulogizes 
Anne Bradstreet's poems, 182; 
great worker and prolilic writer, 



188 ; charaotor of his writings, 
189; his "Orthodox Evangel- 
ist," 190; effect of his sermons 
on Betty Sewall, 105; had 
achieved distinction in Eng- 
land, 196; was a fugitive from 
there, 197 ; iniluence in the 
commonwealth, 2()7 ; he and 
Bradstreet sent as agents to 
England, 340; answer of 
Charles II, returned by them, 
340; made a scape-goat of by 
the people, 341; death, 342, 
386. 

Noyes, Joseph : letter concerning 
inns at Sudbury, 107. 

Ny antics: troubles with, 82. 

Oklahoma Territory : local self- 
government in, 209. 

"0/(i Jacob:" one of the "Pray- 
ing Indians," 78. 

Old Plymouth Road, 108. 

Oxhorn, Charles: persecution of 
by Indiana Quakers for his ab- 
olition views, 266. 

Palmer, Edward: put in stocks 
built by him for his extortion 
in price charged, 140. 

Palmer, George: punished for 
committing folly with Margery 
Rugg, 58. 

Parents and Children : laws en- 
forcing obedience of children, 
55; parents required to allow 
children timely and convenient 
marriage, 112; and not to ex- 
ercise unnatural severity, 112; 
also to put them to work, 131; 
and to educate them, 174; and 
bring them up in a Godly way, 
205. 

Parliamentary Commissioners : 
send a communication to the 
General Court, 324; letter of 
General Court to, 328. 

Passing of the Puritans — Looking 
Backward and also Looking 
Forward, Chap. XVIII, pp. 
393-402. 

Patrons: as substitutes for law- 
yers, 69. 

Penalties: for various crimes, 56. 

Pennsylrania : laws against witch- 
craft, 63. 



4i6 



INDEX. 



.Feqnots: troubles and war with, 

79; extermination, 80. 
.Peter, Rev. Hugh: one of com- 
mittee to draft code of laws, 45, 
46 ; at trial of Ann Hutchinson, 
224, 226; returns to England, 
257 ; heroism when executed, 
257. 

Philip, King: as a leader, 84; in- 
justice to him of Massachusetts 
historians, 84; master spirit of 
the great Indian coalition, 86; 
his efforts to unite the Indians, 
88; King Philip's war begun, 
87 ; its sanguinary character, 88 ; 
inhuman treatment by colonists 
of his little son, 89 ; his death 
and barbarous mutilation of his 
body, 89, 91 ; results of the war, 
92 ; life on frontier settlements 
during the war, 156; their re- 
cuperation afterwards, 158. 

Phillips, Eev. : chosen one of the 
first ministers, 34 ; one of com- 
mittee to draft code of laws, 46. 

Phipps, Gov. William: his moth- 
er's large family, 94. 
Pinion, Nicholas: fined for swear- 
ing, 60. „ ^ , 

Plymouth: emigration of Leyden 
congregation to, 4 ; the colony, 
4; in King Philip's war, 92; 
treatment of Gorton in, 262; 
admission into New England 
confederation, 307; towns and 
population at that time, 314. 

Poets: of commonwealth period, 
181. 

Population, of commonwealth : in- 
crease during Cromwell's time, 
332 ; between beginning and end 
of commonwealth, 383 ; changes 
in character, 386, 399. 

Porter, John : expelled from Vir- 
ginia house of representatives 
because "too loving" to the 
Quakers, 260. 

Portugal: trade of commonwealth 
with, 134. 

Potteries: establishment of, 133. 

Praying Indians, The : 78. 

Prices: laws regulating, 138; Cot- 
ton's "rules for trading," 142; 
failure to enforce laws regulat- 
ing, 143. 



Privy Council : control of colonieg 
vested in, 322; demands pro- 
duction of charter, 322. 

Proprietary Rights: granted by 
charter, 28. 

Providence: treatment of Gorton 
in, 262. 

Provisional Government: estab- 
lished after revocation of char- 
ter, 383. 

Public Days: in commonwealth, 
110. 

Punishments : inhuman prohibited 
by Body of Liberties, 50. 

Puritans: persecution of in Eng- 
land, 1, 5; emigration to Hol- 
land, 2; condition there, 3; 
emigration from Holland to 
America, 4; emigration from 
England to America, 12; their 
motives for emigrating, 12 ; ad- 
dress issued before going, 17 ; 
designs as to setting up an inde- 
pendent government, 18; from 
what parts of England they 
came, 19; their character, 19; 
their sufferings during the first 
winter, 26; change in historic 
style in writing about them, 
393; their belief in morality, 
394; and in education, 395; 
intense lovers of liberty, 395; 
economical in public and pri- 
vate expenditures, 396; but 
not parsimonious in defense of 
country, 396; have impressed 
their characteristics on every 
community established by them, 
397 ; settlement by their de- 
scendants of Marietta, Ohio, 
397 ; giving place to foreigners 
in New England, 399; great 
changes in New England in 
character of population, 398; 
where descendants of the New 
England Puritans have gone, 
400; change from religious be- 
liefs of the early Puritans in 
New England, 400. See Chap. 

III, Puritan Laws, etc.; Chap. 

IV, The Puritans and the In- 
dians ; Chap. VIII, The Puritan 
Sabbath; Chap. XVIII, The 
Passing of the Puritans, etc. 

Puritans and the Indians, The: 
Chap. IV, pp. 77-93. 



IXDEX. 



4^7 



Piiritau Laws, Lawvers and 

Courts: Chap. Ill, pp. 48-76. 
Puritan Sabbrttli, The: Chap, 

VIII, pp. I(i0-173. 
PuliuDn, Gen. Kafus: settlement 

by of Marietta, Ohio, 159. 
Pynchon, Wilham: conference as 

to New Enghind confederation, 

305. 

Quacks: punishment of, 124. 

Quakers: hiws against, 200, 201, 
205; invade Massachuset'', 237; 
fined, imprisoned and banished, 
237 ; four returned and were 
hanged, 238 ; danger of uprising 
of people against further hang- 
ings, 239; the message in their 
behah" I'romthekingof England, 
239 ; their final triumph, 239 ; the 
old-time historical excuse for 
hanging them, 241 ; no authority 
in charter for tlieir banishment, 
242; characteristics of early 
Quakers, 243 ; their insulting 
condui't and indecent behavior, 
244; majority of people opposed 
to their ix?rsecution, 252 ; perse- 
cution of in Maryland, 259; 
and in Virginia, 2;59; Quaker 
persecution of Catholics in 
Rhode Island, 265; and of Ab- 
ohtionists in Indiana, 265; re- 
ception by Quakei-s of Henry 
Clay in Richmond, Indiana, 
267; instractions of Charles II 
to colonists as to, 341. 

Quarter Courts: establishment, 
64; jurisdiction, 65. 

Quo Warranto Proceedings: to 
annul the charter, first begun, 

. 323; second proceedings, 375; 
final judgment in, 380; ques- 
tion as to its legality, 381. 

BandoJph, Edward: his efforts to 
destroy the commonwealth, 
359; sent by the king with a 
letter, 361 ; how received by 
Governor Leverett, 361 ; busies 
himself in fomenting dissen- 
sions and factious, 362; comes 
with commission as customs col- 
lector, 367 ; his treatment Vjy 
Massachusetts authorities, 367 ; 
27— Pub. Rep. 



again comes with commi^pion 
as collei'tor, etc., 3()8; follows 
DuiUey and Richards to KiiK- 
land, 369; Hies articles of high 
crimes and mi-sdemeanors 
against the governor and com- 
pany, 374; serves writ of quo 
umrranto, 375; continues to cre- 
ate dissensions, 378; after for- 
feiture of charter appears again 
with commission for organizing 
a j)rovisional government, 383; 
one of the council of Governor 
Andres, 387; pronounces land- 
titles of colonists worthless, and 
threatens ejectments by cart- 
load, 389; imprisoned, 391. 

Hank: early distinctions in, 127; 
exemption of "gentlemen" from 
whipping, 128; titles, 128; fam- 
ily arms, 129; in "dignifying" 
the meeting-liouse, 167. 

Eaicson, Edward: signs order of 
General Court to close Baptist 
church, 204. 

Befugees: from other countries, 
provisions as to in Body of Lib- 
erties, 50. 

Begistry Laws: early, 39. 

Beligion of the Puritans : its som- 
ber character, 193. 

BeUgious Persecutions: in 17th 
century, 258. 

BeUgious Sects: great number in 
earlv i>eriod of commonwealth, 
246." 

BeUgious Services: laws punish- 
ing disturbance, 204; laws re- 
quiring attendance upon, 205. 
{Beli^iaiisJYo\i-'.v&l\6n: absence of 
m 17th centnTT,' 258; in Ameri- 
can colonies, 258; in Virginia, 
259; to what causes existing 
toleration in United States is 
owing, 26;^. 

BepubUc: planting the seed— de- 
velopment of the town system, 
269 ; how the republic grew — • 
escape from democracy, 282; 
not at first contemplated, 2S2; 
struggle of freemen against ex- 
ercise by lulers of arbitrary 
power, 283; opi^osition of free- 
men to usurpations of the as- 
sistants, 284; freemen succeed 



4i8 



INDEX. 



in having deputies to represent 
them, 285 ; struggle to obtain 
Body of Liberties, 28(i ; opposi- 
tion to standing council, 286; 
opposition to electing Winthrop 
governor for life, 287 ; clashing 
between the deputies and as- 
sistants, 287 ; the dispute about 
astray pig and its consequences, 
288 ; establishment of deputies 
and assistants as separate leg- 
islative bodies, 289 ; opposition 
of deputies to claims of clergy, 
293 ; growth of retarded by re- 
strictions upon atlmission to 
privileges of freemen, 297 ; be- 
fore the close of the conmion- 
wealth the government essen- 
tially republican, 298; circum- 
stances favored dissemination 
of republican ideas, 299 ; laying 
the foundation of a greater re- 
public — the United Colonies of 
New England, 301 ; the strug- 
gle for independence — genesis 
of a still greater republic, 315; 
the Andros sequel, 383 : contin- 
ued growth of republic during 
commonwealth period, 392. See 
Chap XII, Planting the Seed of 
a Republic, etc.; Chap. XIII, 
How the Republic Grew, etc. ; 
Chap. XIV, Laying the Foun- 
dations for a Greater Republic, 
etc. ; Chaps. XV and XVI, 
The Struegle for Independence, 
etc. ; Chap. XVII, The Andros 
Sequel. 

Mevenue Laws : direct taxes, 53 ; 
duties, 53; license fees, 53; in- 
come taxes, 53. 

Bevocatioii of Charter: see Chaps. 
XV and XVI, The Struggle for 
Independence, etc. 

TJifide Island: treatment of Gor- 
ton in, 262; persecution of 
Catholics in, 265 ; why left out 
of New England confederation, 
307 ; subsequently refused ad- 
mission, 308. 

Sices: of Marlborough, 400. 

Jtlchards, John : he and Dudley 
sent as agents to England, 369; 
their advice to General Court, 
373 ; additional instructions to, 
373. 



Bichardson, Amoa: a patron, 69. 

jBtse and Fall of the Theocracy, 
Chaps. X and XI, pp. 193-268. 
See Ministers, Theocracy. 

Boads and Travel : in common- 
wealth period, 108; old colo- 
nial roads, 108 ; modes of trav- 
el, 108. 

Bobinson, Rev. John : of the Ley- 
den congregation, 4; parting 
between him and his congrega- 
tion, 198. I 

Bouilpy : weaving begun at, 134. 

Boxbnry: at end of common- 
wealth, 388. 

Buggies, Martha: courtship of by 
Judge Sewall, 119. 

Buggs, Margery : punished for en- 
ticing George Palmer, 58. 

Bural Life: difference between 
it and urban, 145. 

Sabbath: began Saturday night, 
160 , comparison of Scotch and 
Puritan Saturday night, 160; 
laws enforcing observance, 163. 
See Chap. VIII, The Puritan 
Sabbath, pp. 160-173. 

Salem: settlement, 16, 25; pot- 
tery established at, 133; Quak- 
ers at, 244. 

Salt- manufacture, 133. 

Saltoiistall, Sir Richard: fined, 
59 ; settles Watertown, 145 

Sassaciis, Chief: endeavors to 
form Indian coalition to exter- 
minate the colonists, 79; de- 
feated, 80. 

Saturday night: in the common- 
wealth, 163. 

Saw Mills : introduced, 95. 

Scituate: in King Philip's war, 
92. 

Scotch Presbyterianism : in 17th 
century, 193. 

^ScoW, Roger: fined for sleeping in 
church, 59. 

Scror/as: judge in reign of James 
11," 8. 

Scrooby (in England) : location, 
1 ; Puritan congregation at, 1. 

Selectmen: powers of, 275. 

Servants: provisions as to, 55, 205. 

Sewall, Betty: hiding from Capt. 
Tuthill, 113 ; her conversion, 
195. 



INDEX. 



419 



jSewall, Judith : Gov. Dudley asks 
her father for pennitiKion for 
his son to wait upon her, 113; 
her M'eddin*; outfit, 121. 

JSe'waU, Judge vSamnel : his law 
books, 71 ; educated for pulpit, 
71 ; his legal education, 71 ; re- 
grets for decision in case of 
Widow Bellingham, 72, and 
for his part in the witch- 
craft trials, 72; advii-e to Jus- 
tice Davenport, 72 ; opponent of 
slavery, 72 ; his diary and let- 
ter, 72; sends to lx)udon for 
fine furniture, 97; his court- 
ships, 113; orders wedding out- 
fit in Ijondon for his daughter 
Judith, 121; inventory of his 
accumulation of funeral pres- 
ents, 126; setting the tune in 
church, 171; his books, 177; 
sends to London for fine cloth- 
ing, 385. 

JShaio, Ch. J.: his explanation of 
meaning of "Liberties," 49; 
- commendation of Body of Lib- 
erties, 49. 

JShepnrd, Rev. : persecution of by 
Archbishop Laud, 0; one of 
committee to draft code of laws, 
45,46; had achieved distinction 
in England, 196; a fugitive 
from there, 197; at trial of Ann 
Hutchinson, 224. 

Sherman, IMrs. : her lawsuit with 
Capt. Keayne, 288. 

Sherman, Rev. John: his large 
family, 94. 

Silvester, Peter: punished for 
speaking against the law about 
hogs, 40. 

Singing Schools: introduction, 
111. 

Slavery: in Massachusetts, 50, 55, 
311. 

Smith, Sydney : Reply to Billings- 
gate fish-woman, 100. 

South Carolina: laws against 
witchcraft, 63. 

South Church : seized for Episco- 
pal services, 388. 

Spain: trade of commonwealth 
with, 134. 

Spencer, William :§ one of com- 
mittee to draft code of laws, 46. 

Spinning: laws to encourage, 133. 



Springfield: in King Philip's war, 
92. 

Stage Coaches, 109. 

Standing Council : opposition of 
people to, 286. 

Stanleij, ^latliew: fined for win- 
ning affections of daughter of 
John Tarbox, 60. 

Star Chamber: of England, 7. 

States' Rights: doctrine, 312. 

Steele, John: confers as to New 
England C'onfedeiation, 305. 

Sternhold and Hopkins: version 
of Psahns, 170. 

Stocks: what crimes punished by 
putting in, 57. 

Stone, Capt. John : ])unished for 
confronting authority, 40. 

Stone, Rev. Samuel : definition of 
Congregational church govern- 
ment, 283. 

Stovghton, Israel : commands 
Massachusetts troops in Pequot 
war, 80 ; at trial of Ann Hutch- 
inson, 229. 

Stonghton, AV'^illiam : one of a 
committee to draft a code of 
laws, 46; educated for pulpit, 
71 ; one of judges at the witch- 
craft trials, 71 ; he and Bulke- 
ley sent as agents to England, 
3(i3; remain nearly three years, 
364; their return, 366. 

Stores: when introduced, 95; in 
churches, 166. 

Strangers: surveillance over, 41; 
strict laws against, 200. 

Stray Pig: dispute over and its 
consequences, 288. 

Struggle for Independence, the: 
Chapters XV, XVI, pp. 315- 
382. 

Stuffing the Ballot-box : law 
against, 52. 

Sudbury: in King Philip's war, 
92, 156 ; settlement of, 146, 156 ; 
life of early settlers, 156; train- 
ing field there, 150. 

Suffrage: limited to church mem- 
bers, 36, 199; law as to illegal 
voting, 52; effect of failure to 
extend to non-church members, 
297; no authority in (charter 
for restricting to members of 
Puritan churches, 297. 



420 



INDEX. 



Swift, Eev. John : -wrote most of 
wills in Framingham, in his 
time, 68. 

iSynods: of 1647, 250; subsequent, 
251. 

Tanneries: establishment of, 133. 

Tarbox, John : Mathew Stanley 
sued for winning his daughter's 
affections, 60. 

Taxation: opposition to exer- 
cise of taxing power by the as- 
sistants, 38; revenue laws, 53; 
few exemptions from, 53 ; fix- 
ing rates, 53; opposition of 
people of Watertown to taxa- 
tion without representation, 
285; opposition of colonists to 
arbitrary taxation by England, 
356, 365. See Revenue Laws. 

Tea: use of , 104. 

Teachers: only orthodox em- 
ployed in schools and college, 
174, 206. 

Tenure of lands: laws defining, 
63. 

Thanksgiving : dinners, 103; davs, 
109. 

Theatrical Entertainments : for- 
bidden, 110. 

Theocracy: effort to establish a 
Biblical Commonwealth, 193; 
Theocracy not recognized as a 
distinct body, 195; composed 
of a small minority of ministers, 
195 ; its attempts to regulate 
men's thoughts, 206; intimate 
union between church and 
state, 209 ; tendency to religious 
persecution, 209; recognition of 
its power by civil authorities, 
209; banishment of the 
Brownes, 210; contest with 
Eoger Williams, 211 ; trial and 
banishment of Ann Hutchinson, 
223, 232 ; banishment of Wheel- 
wright, 223 ; persecution of re- 
monstrants in favor of Wheel- 
wright, 232 ; proceedings 
against Vassal and others, 234; 
persecution of Baptists, 235; 
contest with Quakers, 237; con- 
tained elements of its own de- 
struction, 245; effect of spread 
of dissenting beliefs, 246; of 
expansion of commerce, 252; 



of growth of republican ideas, 
252 ; majority of people opposed 
to tyranny of, 252; its power 
ended by revocation of charter, 
253. See Chaps. X and XI. 
Rise and Fall of the Theocracy, 
pp. 193-268. 

TTiursday Lecture Days : 109. 

Tilley, Widow: courtship and 
marriage of by Judge Sewall, 
114, 

Tithing-men : duty to set idlers to 
work, 131 ; duties in church, 
168. 

Titles: use of, 128. 

Tobacco: laws against use, 104, 

Torture: law as to, 50. 

Town Clerks: importance of 
office, 275. 

Toums: authorized to dispose of 
lands, 54, 274; great number 
of local officers, 60; origin of 
the New England town sys- 
tem, 269; not modeled after 
precedent, 271 ; development, 
272 ; the Dorchester plan, 273 ; 
the Charlestown plan, 273; 
when first recognized as dis- 
tinct local municipalities, 274; 
authorized to select deputies to 
General Court, 274; chief offi- 
cers of the town, 275 ; town 
meetings, 276 ; cardinal idea of 
the town system, 276; great 
importance of the town meet- 
ings, 276; value as an aid to 
education, 277 ; importance as 
political factors, 277 ; advan- 
tages of town meetings in revo- 
lutionary war period, 278 ; Jef- 
ferson's tribute to, 280; kind of 
business transacted in early 
towns, 281 ; towns abolished un- 
der Andros, 388. See Chap. 
XII, Planting the Seed of a 
Republic, etc., pp. 269-281, 

Transmission of Property: laws 
regulating, 51. 

Traveling: mode of, 104; forbid- 
den on Sabbath, 163. 

Tuthill, Capt. : abortive attempt 
to court Betty Sewall, 113. 

United Colonies of New England : 
origin, 301 ; reasons for form- 
ing, 301 ; preliminary negotia- 



INDEX. 



421 



tions, 303; npeotiationp re- 
Bumed, 300; articles of confed- 
eration adopted, 307 ; why 
Maine and Khode Island left 
out, 307 ; subsequent refusal to 
admit Rhode Island, 308; chief 
provisions of the articles, 308; 
none but nionibers of Puritan 
churches eligible to be commis- 
sioners, 309 ; provisions as to 
fugitives from justice and from 
service, 311 ; further develop- 
ment of idea of local self-gov- 
ernment, 311 ; the confedera- 
tion the beginning of the Unit- 
ed States, 312; end of confed- 
eration, 314. See Chap. XIV, 
Laying the Foundations of a 
Greater Eepublic, etc., pp. 301- 
314. 

Va7ie, Gov. Henry: sides Avith 
Ann Hutchinson, 210; his dra- 
matic exhibition before the 
General Court, 216; contest for 
governorship with "Winthrop, 
218; character, 219; his writ- 
ings, 220 ; conduct in impeach- 
ment of Earl of Strafford, 220; 
remained friend of colonists, 
223; Ills heroic death, 223. 

Vassal, William : petition of him 
and others to General Court, 
234. 

ViUcinage: in Massachusetts pro- 
hibited, 50. 

Virginia: laws against witchcraft, 
63 , trade of Massachusetts 
with, 134; persecution of Qua- 
kers in, 2o9; expulsion of John 
Porter from house of represen- 
tatives because "too loving" to 
Quakers, 260; laws against 
Baptists and other non-con- 
formists, 261 ; persecution of 
Puritans, 261 ; banishment of 
Daniel Gookin, 2()1 ; banish- 
ment of Puritan ministers, 2()1 ; 
shameful treatment of by 
Charles II, 317. 

Wadsworth, Maj.: death at Sud- 
bury, 88. 

Waqes: pavable in commodities, 
136; laws regulating, 138; fail- 
ure to enforce laws, 143. 



Wall-pr, Garrison : at Sudburj', 
150. 

^yar: power to make conferred 
by charter, 30. 

Jr«rd, Rev. Nathaniel: work in 
framing Body of Liberties, 47, 
49 ; graduate of Emmanuel Col- 
lege, 67; studied and practiced 
law in England, 67 ; sermon 
against ungodly female attirr, 
99 ; eulogizes Anne Bradstreet's 
poems, 182; eccentricity in 
style of his writings, 189; op- 
posed to submitting laws to 
consideration of the freemen, 
283. 

Water: of New England, 103. 

Watertoii-n: settlement, 26, 145; 
opposition of people to taxation 
without representation, 285. 

Waters, Lawrence: he and his 
wife admonished by General 
Court to avoid dancing, 110. 

Watson: a patron, 69. 

Wealth: increase of wealth and 
luxurv at end of common- 
wealth, 385. 

Weaving: begun at Rowley, 134. 

Weights and Measures: early 
laws regulating, 39. 

Welde, Jose|)h: custodian of Anrt 
Hutchinson after sentence of 
banishment, 231. 

Welde, Rev. Thomas: at trial of 
Ann Hutchinson, 224, 230; his 
"A Short Story of the Rise, 
Reign and Ruin of Antino- 
mianism, etc.," 246. 

Weymouth: in King Philip's war, 
92. 

Whale Fishing : when established, 
95. 

Whcehoright, Rev. John : becomes 
a convert to teachings of Ann 
Hutchinson, 216; conviction of 
heresy, 217; remonstrance in 
his favor, 217; his banishment, 
41,223; persecution of remon- 
strants, 22.'?; difference of ojiin- 
ion between him and the other 
ministers, 246. 

Whipping: what crimes punished 
by, 57 ; exemption of gentle- 
men, 128. 

White, Rev. John: of Scrooby, 1 ; 
his character, 10 ; his efforts to 



422 



INDEX. 



establish a colony in America, 
12; liis account of reasons for 
emigration of Puritans to Amer- 
ica, 13. 

Whitmore, William H. : his edi- 
tion of Colonial Laws, 58, note. 

WhiUier, John G.: "The Old 
Burying Ground," 125. 

WUjglesivorth, Michael : his po- 
ems, 183. 

William and Mary: landing of 
William in England, 391 ; not 
favorable to independence of 
Massachusetts, 391. 

WilUariifi, Rev. Roger: debate be- 
tween him and Cotton on wom- 
en's veils, 100 ; his character, 
211 ; his religious and political 
views, 211 ; banishment, 212 ; 
subsequent disputation between 
him and Cotton, 212; modifi- 
cation of his views in later life, 
213 ; his affection for Massachu- 
setts and for Winthrop, 213; 
his services to the common- 
wealth in the Indian troubles, 
214; shabby ti-eatment of him 
by Massachusetts authorities in 
his old age, 214; grants Gorton 
shelter in Rhode Island, 262. 

Wilsoji, Deborah: the Quakeress 
at Salem, 248. 

Wilson, George: the Quaker at 
Boston, 245. 

Wilson, Rev. John: chosen one of 
the first ministers, 34; makes 
first "stump speech" in Amer- 
ica, 219. 

Windoivs: kind of glass used in, 
95 ; use of oiled paper, 95. 

Winsloro, Gov. Edward : com- 
mands troops in attack on In- 
dian fort, 90 ; defends colonists 
in England against complaints 
of Maverick and others, 235 ; 
sent as agent to England, his 
instructions, 328 ; information 
returned by him, 329. 

Winthrop, Gov. John (Sr.) : signs 
the Cambridge agreement, 16; 
chosen governor of Massachu- 
setts company, 17 ; sails from 
Yarmouth, 18; arrival in 
America, 18; his character, 20; 
one of committee to draft code 



of laws, 45 ; trained as a lawyer 
in England, 68 ; reproof of dep- 
uty for extravagance, 96 ; his 
"History of New England," 
180 ; correspondence between 
him and Roger Williams, 214 ; 
his advice to the latter, 214; 
contest with Vane for oflSce of 
governor, 218 ; his conduct at 
trial of Ann Hutchinson, 223; 
observed how freemen stuck to 
the charter, 284 ; his objections 
to Connecticut form of gov- 
ernment, 281, 305 ; opposition 
of people to electing him gov- 
ernor for life, 287 ; upholds as- 
sistants in claim of right to a 
negative vote, 289; speech de- 
fining liberty, 290; opposition 
to claims of clergy, 294; his 
statement of grounds justifying 
colonists in declaring independ- 
ence of England, 318 ; his death, 
386; influence in founding the 
commonwealth, 394. 

Winthrop, Gov. John (Jr.) : his 
library, 176. 

Winthrop, Katherine: courtship of 
by Judge Bewail, 115; family 
arms borne at her funeral, 129, 

Winthrop, Gen. Wait: family arms 
borne at funeral of his widow, 
Katherine, 129. 

Wise, Rev. John: persecution of 
under Andros, 387. 

Witchcraft: laws against, 63; Sir 
William Blackstone's belief in, 
63 ; laws against of England 
and of other American colonies, 
63 ; judges in the witchcraft 
trials, 71. 

Witter, William : requests visit of 
Baptist brethren from Rhode 
Island, 235 ; presented for be- 
ing re-baptized, 60, 236. 

Woodhridge, Timothy: letter of 
Judge Sewall to, 119. 

Woods, William: his "New Eng- 
land's Prospect," 181. 

Woolrige, John: reprimanded for 
offenses committed in Engl; id, 
44. 

Yarmouth (Eng.) : Winthrop &: ila 
from, 18. 



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^ AUG 89 

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